|
|
|
|
Preparatory meeting for the celebration of WBW 2009
|
Islamabad, July 21, 2009-----TheNetwork for Consumer Protection organized a preparatory and planning meeting of
National Alliance for Promotion and Protection of Breastfeeding and other key stakeholders for joint celebrations
of World Breastfeeding Week 1-7 August, 2009, here on Tuesday.
Global Breastfeeding Week is celebrated every year from 1 to 7 August in more than 120 countries to encourage
breastfeeding and improve the health of babies around the world. It commemorates the Innocenti Declaration made by
WHO and UNICEF policy-makers in August 1990 to protect, promote and support breastfeeding.
In Pakistan, a week long drive of mass awareness and advocacy will be lunched by the National Alliance for
Promotion of Breastfeeding. Representatives of Nutrition Wing, Ministry of Health, Govt. of Pakistan, UNICEF, WHO,
TheNetwork for Consumer Protection, NRSP, Plan-Pakistan, FPAP, Sultana Foundation, PAIMAN, Save the Children-UK
and US, World Food Programme, Micro Nutrient Initiative, Apna Sehat and Human Development & research Foundation
and Islamabad Medical and Dental College jointly pledge to organize different activities for the week long
celebrations.
The meeting started with the welcoming remarks by Waqar Ahmed, Executive Coordinator-TheNetwork. He welcomed
representatives of the national alliance and explained the aims and objectives of the meeting. He emphasized on
the role of civil society in pressure building on government sector to notify the rules and regulation of
Breastfeeding Ordinance 2002.
He highlighted that the purpose of celebrating Global Breastfeeding Week every year is to inform mothers,
breastfeeding advocates, communities, health professionals, governments, aid agencies, donors, and the media on
how they can actively support breastfeeding before and during an emergency. The celebration of this week is to
draw attention to the vital role that breastfeeding plays in emergencies worldwide.
As an important agenda item Sheeba Afghani, Communication Specialist, UNICEF talked about the importance of this
year’s theme and its relevance to the Pakistan.
She said that the theme of World Breastfeeding Week 2009 is "Breastfeeding - a vital emergency response. Are you
ready?” It highlights the need to protect, promote and support breastfeeding in emergencies for infant and young
child survival, health and development.
She said that despite focusing on activities in twin cities we should focus on emergency areas like in Mardan,
Sawabi, Sawt and other such areas where the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) are accommodated. She highlighted
that civil society should keep an eye on the violations of Breastfeeding Ordinance as we did in a case of an
appeal to donate infant formula made by the government for IDPs.
In her presentation, while explaining the objectives of the Breastfeeding Week 2009 she said that the basic aim is
to mobilize action and promote networking and collaboration between those with breastfeeding management skills and
those involved in emergency response.
Children are among the most vulnerable groups during emergencies, and small children are the most vulnerable of
all, due to increased risk of death due to diarrhea and pneumonia. During emergencies, unsolicited or uncontrolled
donations of breast-milk substitutes may undermine breastfeeding and should be avoided Sheeba stated.
Dr. Siham Sikander from Human Development Research Foundation made a presentation on the topic of “Breastfeeding
Practices in Pakistan”. He discussed that only 8 percent infants at 6 to 8 months are exclusively breastfed in
Pakistan. Low literacy rate, lack of awareness, cultural practices, psychological distress undermining capacity
and poor implementation of Breastfeeding Ordinance are the main causes of low rate of exclusive Breastfeeding.
Yqoub Manzar Qureshi, Health Education Advisor, Nutrition Wing, Ministry of Health, stressed that mobilization of
Lady Health Workers for promotion of breastfeeding is very crucial because they are the delivery agent at the
household level. He said rules and regulations of BF- Law is pending with the Ministry of Law and after their
approval implementation phase would be addressed.
During the meeting it was decided that TheNetwork will hold secretariat of National Alliance for Promotion and
protection of Breastfeeding for this year.
A moderated discussion was held after the presentations. The discussion resulted in some valuable suggestions
from speakers.
It was concluded that there is a dire need to built pressure to expedite the process of notification of rules and
regulations of Breastfeeding Ordinance 2002. As part of emergency preparedness, hospitals and other health care
services should have trained health workers who can help mothers establish breastfeeding and/or overcome
difficulties.
During the WBW 2009 rural areas would be targeted through the Lady Health Workers for promotion of breastfeeding
in communities. Other key stakeholders such as Parliamentarian, media, health service providers will be mobilized
to take special initiatives to raise awareness during this BF week.
|
|
|
|