By Oluseye Ojo
The United Nations’ Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has advised lactating mothers not to feed their babies with water or any other liquid substance besides breastmilk within the first six months of life.
This message was emphasised at the flag off of the 2024 World Breastfeeding Week and World Breastfeeding Record Initiative, where a groundbreaking event took place.
More than 30,000 lactating women from all 36 states in Nigeria, as well as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and selected Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps, breastfed their babies simultaneously.
Izuchukwu Michael Offiaeli, UNICEF Public Health Nutrition Officer and the Breastfeeding Record Facilitator, expressed his admiration for the breastfeeding mothers, who participated in the historic event.
He revealed, “While our target was to engage 30,000 lactating women, an impressive 31,254 women, along with their babies, turned out across the states and IDP camps to set a new world record for the highest number of lactating women breastfeeding simultaneously.”
Offiaeli stressed the importance of breastmilk, stating that it contains over 88 per cent water, providing infants with all the water they need.
The UNICEF Country Representative, Cristian Munduate, noted that despite the proven benefits of breastfeeding for lifelong health and well-being, Nigeria’s rates of early, exclusive, and continued breastfeeding remain low due to cultural, social, and practical barriers.
She also urged the integration of breastfeeding support into Nigeria’s emergency response plans.
Prof Muhammad Ali Pate, the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, who quotied the Global Breastfeeding Scorecard, revealed that global exclusive breastfeeding rates have increased to 48 per cent, while in Nigeria, based on the 2021 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS), only 34 per cent of children from zero to six months are exclusively breastfed against the global average and the World Health Assembly target of achieving 50 per cent by 2025.
Daju Kachollom, the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, stressed: “We must adequately support our women to breastfeed so that we will be able to reap the manifold benefits of breastfeeding. Breastfeeding is one of the smartest investments we can make as a nation to build our future prosperity. It brings huge returns to the child, mother, family, and the nation.”