Also damning is the revelation that more than five million newborns
are deprived of essential nutrients and anti- bodies through lack of
exclusive breast- feeding.
The failure to embrace exclusive breastfeeding by many Nigerian moth-
ers denies millions of newborns the ben- efits of breast milk. The
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Nutrition Specialist, Mrs. Ada
Ezeogu, traced Nigeria’s losses to the failure to em- brace exclusive
breastfeeding at a me- dia dialogue on breastfeeding organised by Child
Rights Information Bureau (CRIB), Federal Ministry of Informa- tion and
Culture, and United Kingdom Department for International Develop- ment
(DFID), in Ibadan, Oyo State.
The dialogue, according to the UNI- CEF Communication Specialist, Mr.
Geoffrey Njoku, was aimed at partner- ing with the media to increase
the rate of EBF in the country. It was also part of the activities to
mark this year’s World Breastfeeding Week.
Ezeogu explained that the low cognitive development, low Intelligent
Quotient (IQ) and health costs arising from inadequate breastfeeding led
to $21 billion economic loss. She revealed that the low rate of
Exclusive Breastfeeding (EBF) leads to 103,742 child deaths and robs 5.4
million children yearly of essential nutrition required for their
proper development. The UNICEF expert also
said that delaying breastfeeding for two to 23 hours after birth increases the risk of a baby dying within 28 days of its birth by 40 percent. The failure to practise EBF also contributes to chronic malnutrition and the country’s population of 11 million malnourished children under the age of five.
said that delaying breastfeeding for two to 23 hours after birth increases the risk of a baby dying within 28 days of its birth by 40 percent. The failure to practise EBF also contributes to chronic malnutrition and the country’s population of 11 million malnourished children under the age of five.
Information from the 2014 National Nutrition and Health Survey (NNHS)
indicates that only 25 percent of children born in the country are
exclusively breastfed from zero to six months of age. It also reveals
that the country has increased its exclusive breast-
feedingoverthepast10yearsfrom12percentto25percent.
Comparatively,thereport said that Ghana and Nigeria had exclusive
breastfeeding rates of 7.4 percent in 1994 but pointed out that by 2013,
Ghana had moved up to 63 percent.
This UNICEF report on Nigeria is not impressive. The time to invest
more resources in exclusive breastfeeding is now. The good news is that
mother’s breast milk is still the best for a newborn. It is highly
nutritious, readily available and comes at no cost. Nutri- tion experts
attest that breast milk is the ideal nutrition for infants as it has an
almost perfect mix of vitamins, protein and other nutrients that babies
need. It is always at optimum temperature for babies. It is, indeed, sad
that the high level of malnutrition among under-five children and the
prevalent high infant mortality rate in the country are traceable to
lack of exclusive breastfeeding. The fact that exclusive breastfeeding
reduces child mortality by 13 percent shows that it is the best way to
go, to prevent such deaths. In the 2013 Multiple Indicator Survey on
exclusive breastfeeding which put the national EBF at 15 percent, Ekiti
State came tops with over 45.0 percent. Osun had 40.0 percent; Lagos,
25.0 percent; Edo, 25.0 percent; Ogun, 15.0 percent; Delta, 10.0
percent, and Ondo, 10.0 percent.
The Federal, state and local governments should substantially
increase their votes for campaigns on exclusive breastfeeding to meet
the World Health Assembly’s target of increasing the percentage of
children under the age of six months that are exclusively breastfed to
at least 50 percent by 2025.
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