Tue, 9 Mar 1999 19:13:08 EST
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Check out this article in yesterday's (3/8/99) International Herald Tribune
UNITED NATIONS, New York (NYT) - Increased breastfeeding could save
the lives of up to 1.5 million of the roughly 12 million children
under the age of 5 who die every year around the world, according to
initial findings presented by a group of women's organizations.
The organizations, which have been trying to measure the economic
benefits of breastfeeding, told the annual meeting of the UN
Commission on the Status of Women that they hope to counter what they
see as a worldwide decline in the practice by convincing governments,
health authorities and ordinary families that they should do more to
encourage mothers to breastfeed.
Children who are not breastfed tend to have weaker immune systems and
are at greater risk from infectious diseases, especially diarrhea and
respiratory illnesses, they say.
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