The Ministry of Health’s (MOH) Nutrition Division has launched a comprehensive awareness campaign on breastfeeding ahead of World Breastfeeding Week scheduled for September 1-6, 2024. The initiative which began on August 1, 2024 in Monrovia, aims to promote breastfeeding across Liberia through various media outlets and community engagement activities. It is focused on encouraging mothers to breastfeed their newborns immediately after birth.
According to a press statement dated August 20, 2024, this year’s World Breastfeeding Week, which will take place under the theme, “Closing the Gap: Breastfeeding Support for All,” will be held in Bopolu City, Gbarpolu County. The event will kick off with a grand parade through the principal streets of Bopolu and will culminate at the Emirates Hospital.
However, a significant highlight of the week’s activities will be the launch of a breastfeeding and nursing room at the Emirates Hospital. The breastfeeding room will allow working mothers to bring their infants to work after maternity leave, enabling them to continue exclusive breastfeeding for up to six months.
In Liberia, the campaign is spearheaded by the Ministry of Health, with support from the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF and other partners.
Observed by citizens and civil society groups, the week celebrates breastfeeding mothers in all their diversity, throughout their breastfeeding journeys, while showcasing the ways families, societies, communities and health workers can have the back of every breastfeeding mothers.
Dr. Bedee Duworko Gbozee, Director of Nutrition at the Ministry of Health, emphasized the vital role of breastfeeding in protecting infants from various short and long-term illnesses.
She noted that breastfeeding reduces the risk of conditions such as asthma, obesity, type 1 diabetes, and sudden infant death syndrome and Breastfeeding helps prevent ear infections, stomach infections, and other germs, contributing to the overall health and strength of babies.
She indicated that breast milk is readily available anytime and anywhere, always clean, nutritious, and at the right temperature and fosters a strong bond between mother and baby.
Dr. Gbozee also highlighted the WHO’s recommendation that breastfeeding should begin within one hour of birth and continue exclusively for the first six months of a baby’s life and called on the public to support breastfeeding mothers, especially in the workplace, to normalize breastfeeding and eliminate public criticism.
The Ministry aims to ensure that these mothers are acknowledged, heard, and able to share their breastfeeding experiences. “This is important because it provides multi-level support, including policies that value women and breastfeeding, a breastfeeding-friendly healthcare system, respect for women’s autonomy, and community solidarity,” she added.
She said breastfeeding, also known as nursing, is the process of feeding an infant with a mother’s breast milk and is considered the best way to provide infants with the necessary nutrients for healthy growth and development.
