Government requested to establish baby friendly institutions
Accra, Sept.16, GNA. - Dr Issabella Sagoe-Moses, National Child Health Co-
ordinator, on Thursday appealed to the government to establish baby
friendly institutions at all public workplaces and extend the maternity
leave of mothers.

She said the current three months maternity leave was not enough for
mothers to wean their babies thus compelling some of them to sneak home
during working hours to breastfeed their babies.

Dr. Sagoe-Moses was speaking at a seminar on "Breastfeeding-Working and
Schooling" organised by the Women's Commission of Accra City Campus of the
University of Ghana, Legon and sponsored by the World Health Organisation
and the United Nations Children Fund (UINCEF). She called on the
authorities to ensure that all nursing mothers enjoy six months maternity
leave to enable them to breastfeed their babies exclusively.

Dr. Sagoe-Moses noted that the importance of breastfeeding could not be
over emphasised and urged government to formulate policies that could
assist mothers breastfeed their babies properly.

She said nutrition was fundamental for human growth and development and
that, breast milk with its natural nutrients provided protection against
diseases and serve as the first immunisation for babies.

Dr. Sagoe-Moses said: "Six per cent of child death is due to malnutrition:
their survival after sickness depends on their nutrition." She said despite
the numerous benefits of breastfeeding including the prevention of breast
and ovarian cancers, only 26 per cent of nursing mothers in Ghana
breastfeed exclusively.

Dr. Sagoe-Moses said the cause of this was the lack of knowledge about the
dangers of avoiding breastfeeding.

Mrs. Charllote Acquah, Acting Country Director, Linkages Project-Ghana
Health Service, said it was possible for schooling and working mothers to
breastfeed their babies exclusively using the expressive method but called
on the government to ensure that employers give nursing mothers ample time
to breastfeed their babies. She said an enabling environment should be
created for women for the proper upbringing of children adding that women
were entitled to womanhood.

             ***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html