EMPLOYERS in both public and private sectors who will deny nursing mothers their right to feed their infants will face the wrath of the government.
The government is also set to work with
the World Bank to ...
address population growth, maternal health and
nutrition in the country.
These remarks were made yesterday by the
Minister of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and
Children, Ms Ummy Mwalimu, while launching breastfeeding week and
'Wazazi Nipendeni' programme.
Wazazi Nipendeni programme is a text
messaging service that offers free text messages in Swahili language to
pregnant women, mothers with children under five years as well as
supporters of pregnant women and new mothers.
Ms Mwalimu said breastfeeding women who
are also working are legally allowed to breast feed their infants for
two hours per day for a period of six months.
She explained that in support of
breastfeeding programmes, the government enacted regulations stating
clearly the period that women can continue breastfeeding after the three
months maternity leave which was not stated in the Employment and
Labour Relations Act of 2004.
"The Employment and Labour Relations Act
of 2004 did not make clear how long nursing mothers who are employed
can breastfeed after the three months maternity leave. It only says for
two hours a day," she explained.
She underscored the importance of
breastfeeding infants up to six months without feeding them any other
fluids, stressing that the mother's milk has important nutrients for
safeguarding the child.
She added that statistics show that 41
per cent of children under six months old are not exclusively being
breastfed, contrary to expert advice to the nursing mothers. She also
called on health officers to ensure a mother breastfeeds her newborn one
hour after they are born.
She pointed out that concerted efforts
from all stakeholders, including the government is needed to curb
malnutrition in the country, noting that from 42 per cent to 34 per cent
is good but still very high.
Minister Mwalimu said that exclusive
breastfeeding for six months is important to prevent growth retardation,
noting that food producing regions have high stunting rates. The
regions include Rukwa 56 per cent, Njombe 49 per cent and Ruvuma 44 per
cent.
"I must say that ever since President
Magufuli banned foreign trips and insisted that we work with the people
in the grassroots, we are seeing the realities on the ground," she
explained.
The minister also revealed that her
ministry is set to work with the World Bank on three important projects,
namely population growth, maternal health and nutrition that will help
address some of the challenges facing the nation.
On 'Wazazi Nipendeni' programme, the
minister challenged stakeholders to increase the number of those
receiving the text messages to at least 50 per cent from the current 1.7
million since the program started in 2012.
United Nations representative, Biram
Ndiyae, who is also the Nutrition Manager at UNICEF Tanzania underscored
the importance of the event, noting that breastfeeding is one of the
smartest investments which is good for mothers and babies and critical
in achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
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