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UN / WORLD BREASTFEEDING WEEK
STORY: UN / WORLD BREASTFEEDING WEEK
TRT: 1.17
SOURCE: MINUSTAH / UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: NATS
DATELINE: FILE
1-6 JULY 2012, BURKINA FASO
1. Wide shot, woman hoeing with baby on her back
2. Med shot, woman hoeing with baby on her back
3. Wide shot, mother powdering baby
4. Close up, mother standing
5. Med shot, lifting baby
6. Med shot, mother breastfeeding
18-27 NOVEMBER 2011, PORT AU PRINCE, KIKUA ZONE, HAITI
7. Wide shot, mother and her children walking towards their tin hut
8. Close up, baby on mother’s lap
9. Med shot, group of mothers holding their babies
10. Close up, babies breastfeeding
11. Med shot, group of mothers holding their babies
12. Med shot, mother and baby
DATE UNKNOWN, INDONESIA
13. Med shot, breastfeeding mother
DATE UNKNOWN, NEPAL
14. Med shot, breastfeeding mother
15. Med shot, smiling mother's face
16. Med shot, breastfeeding mother
DATE UNKNOWN, LOKMA, INDONESIA
17. Med shot, midwife showing mothers breastfeeding materials
DATE UNKNOWN, NEPAL
18. Med shot, midwife and breastfeeding mother
19. Med shot, torso of mother about to breastfeed
DATE UNKNOWN, INDONESIA
20. Close up, educational breastfeeding poster
21. Med shot, midwife teaching breastfeeding class
22. Close up, breastfeeding mother in class
DATE UNKNOWN, INDONESIA
23. Med shot, breastfeeding mother
24. Med shot, midwife helping woman nurse twins
25. Close up, mother nursing twins
DATE UNKNOWN, MYANMAR
26. Med shot, health worker visiting mother and baby
27. Close up, mother nursing
28. Close up, baby breastfeeding
29. Wide shot, nurse walking in village
The World Health Organization (WHO) today (31 July) called for ensuring that women have accurate information and support regarding the importance of breastfeeding, after a new report found that only 1 in 5 countries fully implement international guidelines about the marketing of breast-milk substitutes.
Breastfeeding, WHO stressed in a press release, is the best source of nourishment for infants and young children and one of the most effective ways to ensure child health and survival. People who were breastfed as babies are less likely to be overweight or obese later in life, less prone to diabetes and may perform better in intelligence tests.
However, globally, only an estimated 38 per cent of infants are exclusively breastfed for six months, the agency noted.
Concerned that breast-milk substitutes were being marketed to mothers too aggressively, the 27th World Health Assembly in 1974 urged member States to review sales promotion activities on baby foods and to introduce appropriate remedial measures, including advertisement codes and legislation where necessary.
This led, in 1981, to agreement on the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes, and the adoption of several subsequent resolutions on the matter. The new report, published ahead of World Breastfeeding Week, found that only 37 countries, or 19 per cent of those reporting, have passed laws reflecting all the Code’s recommendations.
69 countries (35 percent) fully prohibit advertising of breast-milk substitutes; 62 countries (31 percent) completely prohibit free samples or low-cost supplies for health services; and 64 countries (32 percent) completely prohibit gifts of any kind from relevant manufacturers to health workers.
In addition, 83 countries (42 percent) require a message about the superiority of breastfeeding on breast-milk substitute labels, and only 45 countries (23 percent) report having a functioning implementation and monitoring system.
The report stated that mothers are often inundated with incorrect and biased information both directly, through advertising, health claims, information packs and sales representatives, and indirectly through the public health system.
For this year’s World Breastfeeding Week, which runs from 1 to 7 August, WHO and partners are calling for more support for breastfeeding mothers. It noted, among other things, that health facilities that support breastfeeding – by making trained breastfeeding counsellors available to new mothers – encourage higher rates of the practice.
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