By Williams ABAH
The United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, has called on governments at all level and Private employers to create a supportive breastfeeding environment for working mothers.
UNICEF Country representative in Nigeria, Cristain Munduate stated this in Abuja, in commemoration of Breastfeeding week.
According to her, Nigeria is still far from reaching the World Health Assembly’s 70 per cent target by 2030.
The theme of this year Breastfeeding week was title ‘Lifeline for children and economies; the need for urgent call for greater breastfeeding support across all workplaces’.
Munduate revealed that presently, only seven out of 36 states provided six months of fully paid maternity leave, and only 34 per cent of children aged 0 to 6 months were exclusively breastfed as recommended by UNICEF.
She added that breastmilk was the first vaccine and the first food that every child received at birth, noting that breastfeeding stood as a crucial pillar in safeguarding infants against life-threatening infections.
She said, “I’ am calling upon the Nigerian Federal and State governments and employers to take decisive actions to ensure a supportive breastfeeding environment for all working mothers, including those in the formal and informal sectors.”
Munduate added.
She also said that to facilitate progress, it was essential for governments and businesses to play their part by providing the necessary support to mothers and caregivers.
“Presently, women make up 20 million out of the 46 million workforce in Nigeria; 95 per cent are within the informal sector, while the formal sector only employs five per cent. Shockingly, only nine per cent of organisations have a workplace breastfeeding policy, with only 1.5
cent in the public sector.
Women in the informal sector have nearly no support for breastfeeding”.