'Let's get empowered Let's make breastfeeding possible!': World Breastfeeding Week 2019 starts

Today begins World Breastfeeding Week, established by WHO and UNICEF to "Protect, encourage and support breastfeeding, for the countless benefits it brings to the health of the mother and the baby."

This year, it wants to serve as a platform to demand equitable social norms regarding gender, such as teamwork between mothers and their partners for successful breastfeeding, as well as the balance of paid and unpaid work.

From there the motto of the World Breastfeeding Week 2019: 'Let us be empowered Let's make breastfeeding possible!'

Equal opportunities for women

Early initiation of breastfeeding is a key strategy for the child's survival. This is what UNICEF says, which explains that starting breastfeeding from the first day of life "It can prevent 16% of neonatal deaths, a figure that can increase to 22% if breastfeeding begins during the first hour after birth.".

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But this is not possible if the mother does not have the necessary support, as explained by the WABA (World Alliance for Breastfeeding), an entity that works together with the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF and coordinates each year the World Breastfeeding Week celebration.

Hence, this year an appeal is made to governments, unions, companies and Administration, to advocate and implement innovative and intelligent solutions that lead to gender equality and better breastfeeding rates.

Traditionally it has been considered that breastfeeding is an exclusive matter of the mother. However, when parents, couples, families and society support it, breastfeeding rates increase. Breastfeeding is teamwork. Training women and men as equal parents also makes it possible to facilitate breastfeeding.

A UN Women report highlights that women perform 2.6 times more unpaid care and domestic work than men do. The balance of unpaid care and domestic work is an integral part of achieving gender equality and the empowerment of women.

Y To achieve optimal breastfeeding, the needs of women and children and their support systems must be addressed through continuous care from pregnancy until the child turns two years old.

In fact, When prenatal preparation is aimed at couples and not only women, breastfeeding rates are higher. Among the reasons: better attitudes and knowledge about breastfeeding, less use of infant formulas, more domestic and welfare support from the child's father and greater overall satisfaction.

Lack of support for parents at work is one of the main barriers to optimal breastfeeding.

Equal opportunities for fathers and mothers (paternity leave, maternity leave) can help create the environment conducive to breastfeeding at work.

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And to achieve this, we must work from three areas:

  • With social policies and laws of parental protection.
  • That workplaces support motherhood and fatherhood, both in the private and public sectors.
  • Promoting values ​​that exalt motherhood and fatherhood, and equitable social norms related to gender.

Objectives of the World Breastfeeding Week 2019

World Breastfeeding Week is celebrated every year from August 1 to 7 to promote breastfeeding and improve the health of infants worldwide. It commemorates the Innocenti Declaration, signed in August 1990 by governments, WHO, UNICEF and other organizations to protect, promote and support breastfeeding.

This year, the objectives are:

  • Report on how breastfeeding is related to gender-based parental social protection.
  • Rooting attitudes that protect breastfeeding and gender-equitable social norms at all social levels to support breastfeeding.
  • Partner with relevant organizations and individuals to achieve greater social impact.
  • Promote gender equality social protection work that promotes breastfeeding.

For these reasons, WHO is working with UNICEF and partners "to promote family-friendly policies that allow breastfeeding and help parents raise their children and establish links with them in the most important phase: early childhood."

In this regard, the approval of the paid maternity leave of a minimum of 18 weeks, and the paid paternity leave, to promote the shared responsibility of caring for children on equal terms.

And is that WHO ensures that Mothers also need to have a conducive work environment that protects and supports them to continue breastfeeding when they return to work., giving them access to breastfeeding breaks; to a safe, private and hygienic space to extract and store breast milk, and to affordable childcare services.

These steps are essential to comply with the recommendations of the WHO, accepted worldwide, which speaks of exclusive breastfeeding from one hour after birth to 6 months of age. Then, nutritious complementary foods should be added, while breastfeeding continues until 2 years or more.

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