The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were set in Year 2000 by governments and the United Nations (UN) to gauge progress in fighting poverty and promoting healthy and sustainable development in a comprehensive way by 2015.
This year’s World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) theme responds to the current MDG countdown process by asserting the importance of increasing and sustaining the protection, promotion and support of breastfeeding in achieving the Millennium Development Goals. It stresses that wherever your community may be, progress can be made AND sustained. For this to happen you need to be prepared, set goals and targets, join forces and ACT! Protect, Promote and Support breastfeeding… it is a worthwhile goal … and it saves lives!!!
The Millennium Development Goals are:
MDG 4, 5 and 6 are the Health MDGs.
With 2015 just a few months away, there is still a lot of “unfinished business” that requires urgent attention.
- Poverty, though it has decreased, is still very much present.
- Malnutrition is still a common problem.
- Millions of children under five still die each year.
- Proportion of neonatal deaths is increasing.
- There is still significant maternal mortality.
- In developing regions, significant numbers of pregnant women do not meet the recommended minimum antenatal visits.
How is BREASTFEEDING linked to the MDGs?
By protecting, promoting and supporting breastfeeding, YOU can contribute to each of the MDGs in a substantial way. Exclusive breastfeeding and adequate complementary feeding are key interventions for improving child survival, potentially saving the lives of about 20% of children under five. Let’s find out how breastfeeding is linked to each of the Millennium Development Goals
Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
Exclusive breastfeeding, and continued breastfeeding for two years and beyond, provide high quality nutrients and adequate energy, and can help prevent hunger and malnutrition. Breastfeeding is a natural and low-cost way of feeding babies and children. It is affordable for everyone and does not burden household budgets compared to artificial feeding.
Achieve universal primary education
Breastfeeding and adequate complementary feeding are fundamentals for readiness to learn. Breastfeeding and good quality complementary foods significantly contribute to mental and cognitive development, and thus promote learning.
Promote gender equality and empower women
Breastfeeding is the great equaliser, giving every child a fair and best start in life. Most differences in growth between sexes begin as complementary foods are added into the diet, and gender preference begins to act on feeding decisions. Breastfeeding is uniquely a right of women and they should be supported by society to breastfeed optimally.
Reduce child mortality
Infant mortality could be readily reduced by about 13% with improved breastfeeding practices alone, and 6% with improved complementary feeding. In addition, about 50-60% of under five mortality is linked to malnutrition, due to inadequate complementary foods and feeding following on poor breastfeeding practices.
Improve maternal health
Breastfeeding is associated with decreased maternal postpartum blood loss, breast cancer, ovarian cancer, endometrial cancer, and the likelihood of bone loss post menopause. Breastfeeding also contributes to contraception and child spacing, reducing maternal risks of pregnancies too close together, for such as anaemia.
Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
Exclusive breastfeeding together with antiretroviral therapy for mothers and babies can significantly reduce the transmission of HIV from mother to child. More importantly, breastfeeding reduces the death rate in babies exposed to HIV, thus increasing the rate of HIV-free survival.
Ensure environmental sustainability
Breastfeeding entails less waste when compared to formula production involving the dairy, pharmaceutical, plastics and aluminium industries, and reduces the use of firewood and fossil fuels in the home. With breastfeeding, we have a healthy, viable, non-polluting, non-resource intensive, sustainable and natural source of nutrition and sustenance.
Develop a global partnership for development
The Global Strategy for Infant and Young Child Feeding (GSIYCF) fosters multi-sectoral collaboration, and can build upon various partnerships for support of development through breastfeeding and complementary feeding programs.
BREASTFEEDING helps save lives and is good for mothers’ health too!
What the experts recommend: 9
• Initiate breastfeeding within one hour of birth.
• Exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life.
• Continued breastfeeding for two years or beyond with adequate complementary feeding from six months of age