Karachi: Sindh Health Minister Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho on Friday launched World Breastfeeding Week, pledging stricter enforcement of laws regulating infant formula promotion and expansion of baby-friendly hospitals to improve breastfeeding practices across the province.
Launching the week-long observance, with breastfeeding promotion activities continuing throughout August, Dr Pechuho said breastfeeding remained one of the most effective interventions for protecting newborns, improving child nutrition and reducing infant mortality.
She said the government would strengthen implementation of the Sindh Protection and Promotion of Breast-feeding and Young Child Nutrition Act, which prohibits the promotion, advertising and marketing of infant formula, breastmilk substitutes and commercial complementary foods intended for children up to three years of age.
Dr Pechuho said the government would remain vigilant in enforcing the law to protect families from unethical commercial practices that discourage breastfeeding and undermine mothers’ confidence.
She said Sindh was also expanding the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative by transforming tertiary, district and regional hospitals into facilities where mothers are supported to initiate breastfeeding within an hour of birth, newborns receive immediate skin-to-skin contact and unnecessary formula feeding is discouraged.
More than 3,000 healthcare providers have already been trained in clinical lactation management, breastfeeding counselling and maternal nutrition to strengthen breastfeeding support at public health facilities, she added.
Dr Pechuho said exclusive breastfeeding during the first six months, followed by safe and nutrient-rich homemade complementary foods alongside continued breastfeeding, protected children against severe diarrhoea, pneumonia and acute malnutrition.
Along with routine immunisation, she said, optimal breastfeeding remained one of the most effective ways to improve child survival and health.
Marking World Breastfeeding Week under the theme ‘Breastfeeding for a Sustainable Start in Life: Strengthen What Works,’ the minister urged healthcare professionals, civil society organisations, the media and families to help create an environment in which every mother received the support needed to breastfeed successfully.
Supporting the campaign, UNICEF described breastfeeding as a shared responsibility and a cornerstone of child survival, nutrition and development, calling upon governments, health professionals, employers, communities and families to strengthen support systems for mothers.
UNICEF Sindh Chief of Field Office Prem Bahadur Chand said investing in evidence-based policies and services and protecting breastfeeding would help ensure that every child received the healthiest possible start in life.
He said UNICEF would support advocacy, awareness, community engagement and media activities across the country throughout August to promote and support breastfeeding.