L-R: Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Health, Dr ‘Modele Osunkiyesi; Special Adviser to the Lagos State Governor on Primary Health Care, Dr Olufemi Onanuga and the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris at a press conference on World Breastfeeding Week 2016 in Lagos on Thursday.
Kazeem Ugbodaga
The Lagos State Government has decried that 72 percent of Lagos mothers do not practice exclusive breastfeeding for their new babies in the first six months of given birth.
The government said only 28 percent of mothers in the state engaged in exclusive breastfeeding, appealing to mothers in the state to take it as a duty by breastfeeding their babies exclusively in the first six months of their delivery.
Special Adviser to the Governor on Primary Healthcare, Dr. Olufemi Onanuga disclosed this on Thursday at a news conference marking the 2016 Breastfeeding Week in Ikeja, Lagos, Southwest Nigeria.
Onanuga said exclusive breastfeeding and adequate complementary feeding were part of the key interventions for improving child survival and had the potential of saving about 20% of under five children from morbidity and mortality.
“Furthermore, about 50–60% of under-five mortality cases are largely due to malnutrition, caused by poor breastfeeding practices and inadequate complementary feeding. The national figure of 17% (NDHS 2013) as exclusive breastfeeding rate is very low.
“The Lagos State figure of 28% (MICS 2013) is still low and calls for the collective efforts of all stakeholders. Statistics had shown that only 22.6% of children were breastfed within one day of birth while 25.9% of children born in Lagos State were breastfed appropriately (2013 MICS 4).
“The practice of exclusive breastfeeding in the first six months of life and the introduction of adequate complementary diet till the first two years of life are integral part to child survival and optimal growth. Our future is in our hands …Read More
Source:: PM Newspaper
