World Breastfeeding Week runs from August 1 to August 7 and this year it is being commemorated under the theme “Breastfeeding: A Vital Emergency Response: Are you ready?” This theme draws attention to the vital role that breastfeeding plays in emergency situations.

Children are the most vulnerable in emergencies - with child mortality soaring from 2 to 70 times higher than average, due to diarrhoea, respiratory illnesses and malnutrition. According to UNICEF around 9 million children under the age of five die every year, largely from preventable causes, one of them being malnutrition.

Key Issues:

• ·         The media needs to use this time each year to point out that a mother’s health and nutrition are intimately linked with the nutritional status and health of her child. They can therefore use this time to lobby their respective leaders to provide proper nutrition for girls, pregnant and nursing women, as a key to promoting better nutrition in children.
• ·         According to the Lancet, optimal breastfeeding in the first two years of life, especially exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months, can have the single largest impact on child survival of all preventive interventions, even in cases where a mother is living with HIV - with the potential to prevent 12 to 15 percent of all under age deaths in the developing world.
• ·         While some countries have embraced exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months in the cases of mothers living with HIV, some countries have not been so accommodating, with mothers who choose to stop breastfeeding after the six month period being ostracized. UNICEF reports that globally, exclusive breastfeeding is still only around 38 percent. The media needs to raise awareness of the importance of such choices in preserving the health and lives of babies.
• ·         Where mothers are not infected with HIV and there is nothing else to stop them from feeding their babies, this year the onus is on the media to promote breastfeeding for as long as two years, as one of the best ways of promoting the nutritional status of a child in both emergency and normal settings.
• ·         In southern Africa, several countries are battling to provide clean and safe water, which increases the vulnerability to infection of babies who are being bottle-fed. In such settings breastfeeding protects a baby from infection.
• ·         Breastfeeding is not easy. There is need for mothers to be trained on the best way to breastfeed a baby. In African settings, it is assumed that all mothers should know how to breastfeed. The media needs to correct this notion as some mothers have developed infections due to wrong breastfeeding techniques.  
• ·         A healthy mother is needed in order for a baby to have access to breastmilk. Maternal morbidity is increasing in the region and many women are not accessing antenatal and other health services. Every year in sub-Saharan Africa, 265,000 mothers die in childbirth and 4.5 million children die before the age of 5 from preventable causes. There is need to lobby policy makers to ensure that they provide healthcare services to those who need them. The message should be “women should not die while giving life.”
• ·         Some people do not even know about the existence of World Breastfeeding Week. The media needs to raise awareness about it and check on how it is commemorated in-country during this time.

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