More than 90 per cent of Nigerian mothers breastfeed, but optimal breastfeeding practices remain below national and global targets, a UNICEF official has said, according to Premium Times.
Background
Breastfeeding is repeatedly identified as one of the highest-return interventions in child survival because the benefit is large and the input cost is nothing. Almost all mothers in most African countries breastfeed; the gap is in optimal practice, meaning breastfeeding within the first hour, exclusively for six months, and continuing alongside other food to two years. Those three markers are where national figures fall short, and the obstacles are working conditions, marketing of formula, and the absence of skilled support in the first weeks.
Why it matters here
Kenya’s numbers follow the same pattern, and Kibra shows why. Mothers who trade in a market, work in a salon or clean houses return to work within weeks, there is rarely anywhere private to feed or express, and the household often has no refrigeration. The realistic interventions are therefore about the setting rather than the message: maternal and child health clinics within walking distance, community health promoters who follow up at home, and workplaces and markets that make feeding possible.
What to watch next
Whether policy attention shifts from awareness campaigns to workplace and facility support, and whether exclusive breastfeeding rates in urban informal settlements are reported separately.
Read the full story on AllAfrica
Source: AllAfrica
