Africa-Press – Botswana. Breastfeeding remains the best weapon against malnutrition, which is high in the developing world among children under the age of five, health minister Dr Edwin Dikoloti said Tuesday. He was speaking at the commemoration of the World Breastfeeding week here.
Dr Dikoloti said fathers, mothers and the whole community needed to join hands to spread the message on the benefits of breastfeeding.
The minister said a national survey conducted in 2017, showed that 21 per cent of under five children were too short for their age while 7.5 per cent were underweight and another 7.5 per cent were too thin.
That, he said, indicated malnutrition, which could be prevented if mothers earnestly breastfed.
Not only was breastfeeding good for the baby, it was for the parents as well, as it was cheaper compared to formula feeding.
To that end he encouraged mothers to exclusively breastfeed and without fail for the first six months as that was a critical stage in the baby’s growth, where it needed mother’s milk for essential nutrients and to build immunity.
He said the six-month breastfeeding period was recommended by the World Health Organisation. In Botswana, he said, statistics indicated only 20 per cent of babies were breastfed.
That, he added, showed many babies were introduced to solids and fluids other than breastmilk too early, which predisposed them to infections and malnutrition.
Meanwhile, the United Nations Children’s Fund country representative, Mr Samuel Phiri said although significant progress had been made globally in increasing exclusive breastfeeding rates in the last twenty years, it was still not enough as parents still opted for other feeds besides the mother’s milk for their infants, hence the need to continue the campaign.
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