The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has reiterated the need for African nations, such as Nigeria, to improve equitable access to breastfeeding support to promote the growth and survival of healthy children.
UNICEF restated the call at the 2024 World Breastfeeding Week with the theme, “Closing the gap: Breastfeeding support for all.”
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The children’s agency stressed that Nigeria urgently requires to improve breastfeeding support as part of the critical steps to curb health inequity, protect the rights of mothers and babies to survive and thrive.
In the last 12 years, the number of infants under six months of age who are exclusively breastfed in Nigeria has increased by more than 10 percent. Today, 34 percent of infants in Nigeria benefit from this healthy start in life, translating to hundreds of thousands of babies whose lives have been saved by breastfeeding.
While this significant leap brings us closer to the World Health Organisation (WHO) target of increasing exclusive breastfeeding to at least 50 per cent by 2025, there are persistent challenges that must be addressed.
“Breastfeeding is the foundation of lifelong health and well-being. It is a simple, cost-effective, and natural way to provide infants with the nutrients they need for healthy growth and development”, said Cristian Munduate, UNICEF Nigeria’s Country Representative. “However, despite its proven benefits, exclusive breastfeeding rates in Nigeria remain low. Many mothers face cultural, social, and practical barriers that prevent them from breastfeeding exclusively for the first six months of their child’s life”.
During this critical period of early growth and development, the antibodies in breastmilk protect babies against illness and death. This is especially important during emergencies, when breastfeeding guarantees a safe, nutritious, and accessible food source for infants and young children. Breastfeeding reduces the burden of childhood illness, and the risk of certain types of cancers and noncommunicable diseases for mothers.
In line with the theme of World BreastfeedingWeek, “Closing the gap: Breastfeeding support for all,” UNICEF and WHO are emphasisingthe need to improve breastfeeding support as a critical action for reducing health inequity and protecting the rights of mothers and babies to survive and thrive.
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In Nigeria, key gaps in breastfeeding support include insufficient maternity leave policies, lack of workplace support, and inadequate access to breastfeedingeducation and services, particularly in rural areas. Only seven states offer the recommended 24 weeks of paid maternity leave, and many women return to work without the necessary support to continue breastfeeding.
To close these gaps, the government, employers, healthcare providers, and communities need to collaborate. Policies should be enacted to extend paid maternity leave, create breastfeeding-friendly workplaces, and provide comprehensive breastfeeding education and support services.
This year, UNICEF supported Nigeria to set the world record for the highest number of lactating mothers who breastfed simultaneously. 30,000 mothers breastfed their babies across all 36 states in Nigeria and the FCT. This initiative was not only aimed for a record but also to draw attention to the importance of breastfeeding, as well as challenge harmful nutrition norms and practices, specifically the introduction of water and other pre-lacteal feeds during the first six months of a baby’s life.
To support progress, data needs to be available on policy actions that make breastfeeding possible such as family friendly employment policies, regulation of the marketing of breastmilk substitutes, and investment in breastfeeding. Improving monitoring systems will help boost the effectiveness of breastfeeding policies and programmes, inform better decision-making, and ensure support systems can be adequately financed.
When breastfeeding is protected and supported, women are more than twice as likely to breastfeed their infants. This is a shared responsibility. Families, communities, healthcare workers, policymakers, and other decision-makers all play a central role.
This includes increasing investment in programmes and policies that protect and support breastfeeding through dedicated national budgets.
Equally important is the implementing and monitoring family-friendly workplace policies, such as paid maternity leave, breastfeeding breaks and access to affordable and good-quality childcare.
Similarly, Nigeria must ensure that mothers who are at-risk in emergencies or under-represented communities, receive breastfeeding protection and support in line with their unique needs, including timely, effective breastfeeding counselling as part of routine health coverage.
Further, the country must improve monitoring of breastfeeding programmes and policies to inform and further improve breastfeeding rates.
The time to develop and enforce laws to restrict the marketing of breast-milk substitutes, including digital marketing practices, with monitoring to routinely report the Code violations is now.
