Today begins the World Breastfeeding Week, established by the WHO and UNICEF to “protect, promote and support breastfeeding, due to the innumerable benefits it brings to the health of the mother and the baby.”
This year she wants to serve as a platform to demand gender equitable social norms, such as teamwork between mothers and their partners for successful breastfeeding, as well as balancing paid and unpaid work.
Hence the motto of World Breastfeeding Week 2019: ‘Let’s Empower ourselves Let’s make breastfeeding possible!’
Equal opportunities for women
Early initiation of breastfeeding is a key strategy for the survival of the child. This is what UNICEF says, explaining that starting breastfeeding from the first day of life “can prevent 16% of neonatal deaths, a figure that can increase to 22% if breastfeeding begins during the first hour after birth.” .
But this is not possible if the mother does not have the necessary support, as explained by the WABA (World Alliance for Breastfeeding), an entity that works jointly with the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF and coordinates every year the celebration of World Breastfeeding Week.
Hence this year a call is made to governments, unions, companies and the Administration, to advocate and implement innovative and intelligent solutions that lead to gender equality and better breastfeeding rates.
Traditionally it has been considered that breastfeeding is the exclusive business of the mother. However, when supported by parents, partners, families, and society, breastfeeding rates increase. Breastfeeding is teamwork. Empowering women and men as fathers equally also makes breastfeeding easier.
A UN Women report highlights that women do 2.6 times more unpaid care and domestic work than men. Balancing unpaid care and domestic work is an integral part of achieving gender equality and the empowerment of women.
And to achieve optimal breastfeeding, the needs of the woman and child and their support systems must be met through ongoing care from pregnancy until the child is two years old.
In fact, when prenatal preparation targets couples and not just women, breastfeeding rates are higher. Among the reasons: better attitudes and knowledge about breastfeeding, less use of infant formulas, more domestic and care support from the child’s father, and greater overall satisfaction.
Equal opportunities for fathers and mothers (paternity leave, maternity leave) can help create an environment conducive to breastfeeding at work.
And to achieve this, you have to work from three areas:
- With social policies and laws of parental protection.
- That workplaces support motherhood and fatherhood, both in the private and public sectors.
- Promoting values that enhance motherhood and fatherhood, and equitable social norms related to gender.
Goals of World Breastfeeding Week 2019
World Breastfeeding Week is celebrated each year from August 1-7 to promote breastfeeding and improve the health of infants around the world. It commemorates the Innocenti Declaration, signed in August 1990 by governments, WHO, UNICEF and other organizations to protect, promote and support breastfeeding.
This year, the objectives are:
- Report on how breastfeeding is related to gender equitable parental social protection.
- Rooting attitudes that protect breastfeeding and gender equitable social norms at all social levels to support breastfeeding.
- Partner with relevant organizations and individuals to achieve greater social impact.
- Promote gender-equitable parental social protection work that promotes breastfeeding.
For these reasons, WHO is working with UNICEF and partners “to promote family-friendly policies that allow breastfeeding and help parents raise and bond with their children in the most important phase: the first phase. childhood”.
In this sense, the approval of paid maternity leave of a minimum of 18 weeks, and paid paternity leave, to promote shared responsibility to care for children under equal conditions stand out.
And it is that WHO assures that mothers also need to have a conducive work environment that protects and supports them to continue breastfeeding when they return to work , giving them access to breastfeeding breaks; to a safe, private and hygienic space to express and store breast milk, and to affordable childcare services.
These steps are essential to comply with the WHO recommendations, accepted throughout the world, which speaks of exclusive breastfeeding from one hour after birth to 6 months of age. Nutritious complementary foods should then be added, while continuing to breastfeed for up to 2 years or more.
Photos | iStock
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