By NATION Reporter
A children organisation has singled out Rwanda
as the leading country in exclusive breastfeeding of infants on the
continent drastically reducing child deaths.
Save the Children, an NGO that deals with children
welfare, notes in a report that up to 95 babies could be saved every
hour if new mothers breastfed immediately after giving birth, a report
from the aid agency stated.
The report, Superfood for Babies,
said that if babies receive colostrum the mother’s first milk within an
hour of birth, it will kickstart the child’s immune system, making them
three times more likely to survive.
"Mothers should breastfeed for
at least six months, which ensures that a child growing up in the
developing world is 15 times less likely to die from killer diseases
like pneumonia and diarrhoea,” says the report.
Many governments across East
Africa have shown determination to increase breastfeeding rates.
Countries like Rwanda where 85 per cent of children are exclusively
breastfed for the first six months have shown success is possible.
Vital nutrients
In Kenya only 32 per cent of
children are exclusively breastfed for the first six months meaning that
too many children are missing out on vital nutrients they need in the
first months of life, the NGO notes.
As UNICEF’s recent State of
the World’s Children report shows breastfeeding rates across the region
vary - with exclusive breastfeeding rates at 69 per cent in Burundi, 62
per cent in Uganda, 52 per cent in Ethiopia and Tanzania with 50 per
cent.
According to Save the Children
East Africa Regional Director Hussein Halane, an estimated 3.1 million
children die from malnutrition each year.
He said that despite
significant progress in reducing child mortality, one in nine children
in Africa still do not live to see their fifth birthday.
“Breastfeeding is not only
crucial for tackling malnutrition and saving children’s lives, it also
has the potential to have tangible impacts on the economic and social
development of countries across Africa,” he said.
Malnutrition can undermine
future earning potential by as much as 20 per cent and can inhibit
growth of GDP by as much as 2-3 per cent.
If the trend is not checked,
the levels of malnutrition could knock $125bn off the global economy by
2030, when the affected children reach working age, it states.
According to Save the
Children, there is need to ensure that women have the support they need
to breastfeed and overcome the main barriers preventing them from doing
so.
The barriers include community
and cultural practices which discourage women from breastfeeding,
severe shortages of midwives and health workers meaning that too often
the opportunity for new mothers to be supported to breastfeed in the
first few hours is lost, lack of adequate maternity legislation and
marketing practices by some breast milk substitute companies leading to
infant formula being used unnecessarily and improperly, ultimately
putting children at risk.
“Tackling these barriers
demands a new and concerted effort from many different groups of people;
governments, local communities and business.
"For example, governments and
local communities need to take action to empower women to make their own
decisions about breastfeeding, governments need to invest in
strengthening health systems to protect, promote and support
breastfeeding and introduce nationwide breastfeeding-friendly policies
and legislation,” says Mr Halane.
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