… As UNICEF, Health Agency target 56% national
Report by Daniel Atori & Musa Ibrahim
As the world marks this year’s World Breastfeeding Week, Wife of the Niger state Governor, Hajia Fatima Umaru Bago has supported five women who just delivered with the sum of two hundred and fifty thousand Naira to encourage them adhere to exclusive breastfeeding.
She called on women to vigorously promote exclusive breastfeeding, saying “it will enable them bring up healthy children and enhance babies good start in life.”
Speaking at the first 1,000 days initiative to commemorate this year’s World Breastfeeding Week organised by the State Primary Health Care Development Agency supported by UNICEF and funded by the United states government, Hajia Fatima Bago appealled to women not to give anything apart from the breast milk because the breast milk is rich and sufficient in all the nutrients that the child will need.
According to her “I am calling on mothers to ensure they consistently breastfeed their children for the six months; and we are appealing to our pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers not to give anything apart from the breast milk within the first six months because the breast milk is rich and sufficient in all the nutrients.”
She also visited the Sen. Idris Kuta Memorial Primary Health Care centre where she met with five mothers who just delivered of their babies and donated the sum of N250,000 to the five mothers as support.
According to her “I am so glad that the five mothers who delivered today are already breastfeeding their babies and I encourage other women to adhere to exclusive breastfeeding for us to have healthy children and a safer future”.
Speaking also, the Executive Director of the Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr. Junaidu Inuwa said the rate of compliance is not something that is tangible and can be measured.
According to him “from the little date we are having, the rate of compliance in Niger is very high, breastfeeding in Niger state is about 49 percent, we have not yet reached the national average.
“We are working very hard to to reach the national average. It is part of the reason why we are having this sensitisation. The national average is about 56 percent.”
A road walk to commemorate the week was held in the early hours of the day where participants walked under a heavy downpour from the Kuta Memorial primary healthcare centre at the old Airport Road to the Obasanjo complex sensitising women and residents on the importance of exclusive breastfeeding in the first 1000 days of new babies.
Speaking after the walk, Director, Food and Drugs, Niger State Primary Health Care Development Agency, Pharm. Daniel Jiya said the essence of commemorating the world breastfeeding Day was to sensitise women and breastfeeding mothers on the importance and significance of exclusively breastfeeding babies for six months.
In their various goodwill messages, Development Partners led by the WHO and UNICEF charged Niger women to embrace exclusive breastfeeding adding that “the state has not yet attained the national average for exclusive breastfeeding which is put at 56 percent.”
