Dr. Parveen Kumar, Dr. D. Namgyal
Children are the ‘future of nation’. A healthy child becomes a healthy citizen. For a country to progress, children should continue to study, move ahead and build their future. Unfortunately the status of the children in the country with regards to the different parameters like nutrition, mortality, disease prevalence, sex ratio is not encouraging. Male children are still a priority. Parents also lay stress on education of their male child. The access and opportunities to education for female children is not at par with the male ones. For them educating girls is a secondary thing. When it comes to nutrition, about thirty eight per cent of the children in the country under age of five years are stunted signifying chronic malnutrition. This under nutrition that prevails in the human life is fatal in early age groups. The Neo Natal Mortality Rate and Infant Mortality Rate are high in the country. The Neo-natal Mortality Rate is defined as the no. of infant deaths of twenty nine days of life per 1000 live births. The report of Sample Registration Survey (SRS) 2016 puts the neo natal mortality rate in the country at 27. Among the bigger states/UTs neo natal mortality ranges from 32 in Orissa and Madhya Pradesh to 6 in Kerala. Early neo natal mortality rate i.e. number of infant deaths less than seven days of life per thousand live births is also very high. The 2016 SRS reveals that it is 18. Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) that is the number of infant deaths of less than one year per thousand births is 34. It is more for females 36 and less for males it is 33. The under five years mortality rate (U5MR) in the country is estimated at 39. There is a growing recognition that protecting, promoting and supporting children in their early years is essential for the transformation that world seeks to achieve through SDG. Keeping in mind the grim picture of the child health all over the world, the ‘World Breastfeeding Week’ is celebrated every year from August 1 to 7 to encourage breastfeeding and improve the health of mothers and babies. It commemorates the ‘Innocenti Declaration’ signed in August 1990 by Government policymakers, World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations International Children Fund (UNICEF) and other organizations to protect promote and support breastfeeding.
World Breastfeeding
Week Aug 1- Aug 7
Mother’s milk provides the ideal nutrition for infants. It has a nearly perfect mix of vitamins, protein, and fat, everything that the growing baby needs. Moreover it is all provided in a form more easily digested. It contains antibodies that help baby fight off viruses and bacteria. Breastfeeding also lowers baby’s risk of having asthma or allergies. Babies who are breastfed exclusively for the first six months have fewer ear infections, respiratory illnesses, and bouts of diarrohea. They also have to spend less on trips to the doctor. Breastfeeding has also been linked to higher Intelligence. During breastfeeding the physical closeness, the skin-to-skin touching and the eye contact all help the baby bond with you and feel secure. Breastfed infants are more likely to gain the right amount of weight as they grow rather than becoming overweight. Breast feeding also prevents the sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). It is also believed to lower the risk of diabetes, obesity and many other type of diseases. It is a misconception among the mothers that breast feeding weakens them and they have to lose their body shape. Actually there is not like this. Infact, Breastfeeding is reported to burn extra calories thereby helping mothers to lose the weight gained during pregnancy much faster. Breastfeeding releases the hormone Oxytocin, which helps the uterus return to its pre-pregnancy size and also helps reduce uterine bleeding after birth. Breastfeeding also lowers the risk of breast and ovarian cancer and is also believed to lower the risk of osteoporosis
The world breastfeeding was first started and celebrated by the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) in the year 1992. Now, it is being celebrated in more than 120 countries by the UNICEF, WHO and their participants such as individuals, associations and governments. The purpose is to get the goal of elite breastfeeding by mother for their baby of first six months in order to get the incredible health benefits, to fulfill the all vital nutrients, to encourage mother for the healthy growth and development of their child, to guard them from the lethal health problems and diseases including neonatal jaundice, pneumonia, cholera and many more. The World Health Organization as well as the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) strongly recommends breastfeeding for promoting the healthy living for both the mother and the baby.
Since its inception, the world breastfeeding week has been celebrated with different themes. The first breastfeeding week in 1992 was celebrated under the theme Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI). This year the breastfeeding week is celebrated under the theme ’empowering parents, enable breastfeeding’. The objectives are to encourage parents to breastfeeding, raising awareness about the importance of breastfeeding and damage caused by complementary feeding, providing proven scientific material about the importance of breastfeeding, supporting breastfeeding at work places.
The life of women/working women revolves around five basic and necessary pillars. These are her family, her workplace, her social network, Government policies and healthcare facilities provided to her. Therefore it is very necessary that a mother’ gets all the necessary support from her family, her workplace and the social network to which she is bound. At the same time the different Government policies and legislations must give her the necessary immunity against the social taboos. The continuous support by all of them will definitely bring about slow but permanent change in the social set up ultimately leading to disease free and healthy children who one day will further contribute in the growth and development of the country.
(The authors are from KVK-Leh, SKUAST-K)
feedbackexcelsior@gmail.com
Follow our WhatsApp channel
