Malawian mothers prodded to consider breastfeeding
Malawian nursing mothers have been urged to take the six months exclusive breast feeding as a priority to reducing stuntedness in children and fight child mortality in the country.
A senior official in the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) made the advice in Blantyre breast feeding was the best way to fighting stunted growth in children and builds a healthy family that
culminates into a healthy society.
“Malawian mothers must practice breast feeding that will easily see Malawi having healthy people in most sectors of the country’s development,” said Humphrey Mdyetseni, Deputy Director of Planning, Research and Evaluation in the Department of Nutrition, HIV and AIDS which is under the OPC.
Speaking when he opened a four-day Blantyre District Executive Committee (DEC) workshop the official observed that most mothers consume well balanced diet that enables children to take the same during breast feeding.
“Such food has proteins which are more helpful to the children’s health….Every child needs breast milk to survive because it contains all food packages,” observed the deputy director.
Current statistics in Malawi of four out of 10 children looking stunted however still provide no healthy status despite claims by health experts that there has been an improvement in the fight against stuntedness.
Nursing mothers are advised to use breast feeding method on their children from zero to six months so as to reach the target of 40 percent in 2012 from 40.5 percent in 2010.
Mdyetseni also advised parents to ignore certain beliefs like that of denying young children access to eggs.
“We must remove the negative conception we have that stunted as a result of heredity. The only way to deal with the situation is to make sure we take well balanced meals so that we build a better nation,” he concluded.
Health experts say the compulsory six months breast feeding exercise makes both the mother and her baby not only healthy but free from sickness and maintain good health all the time.
Some benefits of exclusive breast feeding include saving the family income, complete food and making the food readily available at all time.
Follow and Subscribe Nyasa TV :
