The World Health Organization has joined the Ministry of Health, the Ghana Health Service, and partners to launch the 2021 National Breastfeeding Week celebration under the theme, Protect Breastfeeding: A shared responsibility.
This year’s event will focus on raising awareness and
galvanizing action on protecting breastfeeding to improve public health. The
week-long celebration will be marked with a call on stakeholders to make
investments and commitments to support actions aimed at reducing malnutrition amongst newborns, infants, and
young children in Ghana.
Ghana’s exclusive breastfeeding rate currently stands at 43
percent, representing a significant drop from 63 percent in 2008. Optimal
breastfeeding practices: that is, early initiation within the first hour of
birth, exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months, and appropriate complementary
feeding with continued breastfeeding up to 2 years or beyond - are among the
most effective interventions to protect children from common causes of death,
including complications from prematurity, newborn infections, pneumonia, and
diarrhoea.
WHO and UNICEF released a number of capacity-building tools
for the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) during the Global launch of
World Breastfeeding Week in August 2021. These include a BFHI Competency
Verification Toolkit for direct care providers, training of maternity staff in
BFHI, and the care for small, sick, and pre-term babies. The tools can also
help improve health workers' skills and competencies to ensure universal access
to skilled breastfeeding support.
source: APO
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