NEWS
WORLD BREASTFEEDING WEEK KICKS OFF
World Breastfeeding Week is held from 1 to 7 August at the initiative of the World Health Organization. The reason for its establishment was the adoption in 1990 of the Innochetiya Declaration of WHO and UNICEF, aimed at the protection, promotion and support of breastfeeding.
Today, World Breastfeeding Week is held in more than 170 countries around the world. Its goal is to educate women about the health benefits of breastfeeding for their babies.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that you exclusively breastfeed your baby until six months of age, and then continue breastfeeding with appropriate complementary foods for at least two years.
Breast milk is not only the best nutrition for newborn babies, but also a powerful means of preventing disease. From 1 to 7 August, World Breastfeeding Week is held around the world. Its goal is to explain to the general public that breast milk can protect babies from many diseases. According to UNICEF, spreading breastfeeding can help save the lives of 820,000 children under the age of five.
First Milk is rich in antibodies that protect babies from disease and death. Breastfeeding promotes brain development in young children, protects them from infections, and reduces the risk of obesity.
It should be noted that special attention is paid to the issues of breastfeeding in Turkmenistan. This is evidenced by the Law of Turkmenistan "On Promotion and Support of Breastfeeding", adopted in 2016.
This Law establishes state guarantees for ensuring the protection of mothers and children and is aimed at observing one of the fundamental rights of the child - the right to breastfeeding, as a unique opportunity to form his physical and mental health.
Also, the country has introduced a national program for the protection and support of breastfeeding. For its implementation, the Center for the Protection and Support of Breastfeeding was created on the basis of the Scientific and Clinical Center for the Protection of Mother and Child Health. Among the tasks of the center are, in accordance with the WHO recommendations, the introduction of the principles of successful breastfeeding into the practice of obstetric institutions and, as a result, the receipt by them of the international status "Hospital of a friendly attitude to the child." Today the overwhelming majority of maternity hospitals and departments in our country have this international status.
In Turkmenistan, 10 principles of successful breastfeeding are being introduced in all obstetric facilities, this is a new effective approach recommended by WHO and UNICEF, which differs from the usual practice of maternity wards. In addition, one of the steps is to help mothers to support breastfeeding by organizing «a hotline» telephone at the maternity hospital and distributing reminders to mothers with advice on breastfeeding.
Prepared by Janmamed Gulamov