Oyo State has commenced the scaling up of the baby-friendly initiative in selected health facilities in nine local government areas in the state, as part of efforts to boost exclusive breastfeeding of babies in their first six months of life and reduce stunting in children across the state.
Speaking at a stakeholders’ sensitisation workshop on its implementation in the state, Dr Hadijat Alarape, the state project coordinator of Accelerating Nutrition Results in Nigeria (ANRiN), said the exclusive breastfeeding rate in the state increased from 49.5 percent in 2017 at the inception of ANRiN to 58.7 percent in 2021, but is yet to reach the set target of 60 percent.
Dr Alarape added that the state has the highest number of malnourished children in the South-West geopolitical zone, with stunting prevalence increasing since 2013 from 27.2 percent to 34.5 percent in 2018, slightly lower than the national average.
According to her, good nutrition in the first 1,000 days is critical for brain development and building human capital, adding that malnutrition has an untoward negative impact on individuals, households and the economy.
“Early nutrition programmes can increase school completion by one year, raise adult wages by five to 50 percent, ensure that children who escape stunting are 33 percent more likely to escape poverty as adults, and lead to a boost in the economy. Studies showed that a reduction in stunting caused an increase in GDP by four to 11 percent in some Asian and African countries,” she said.
In implementing the baby-friendly initiative, Dr Alarape stated that the capacity of health staff is to be built to develop effective skills and give consistent messages while providing infant feeding services, including breastfeeding support for women to breastfeed in the selected health facilities across the state.
“Although compliance with the globally approved breastfeeding recommendation is improving, as the state has enacted a flexible maternity entitlement policy in workplaces and increased the paid maternity leave from four to six months, with the exclusive breastfeeding rate increasing from 30.4 percent in 2011, 49.5 percent in 2017, to 58.7 percent in 2021, there is still a need to accelerate this improvement.
“This will ensure that all children in the state achieve their full potential in life and contribute to the future economic development of the state,” she said.
Representative of the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Mr Ayodele Ojomu, said the international code of marketing of breast milk substitutes gives health workers the responsibility to encourage and protect breastfeeding, adding, however, that its implementation remains rudimentary and violations are frequent in Nigeria.
He, therefore, called for its full implementation to support the promotion and protection of breastfeeding in the country.
Chairman, state committee on food and nutrition, Dr Sunday Adeyemi, earlier in a remark, had said the baby-friendly initiative is important, considering the importance of breast milk for the growth of children and the economic development of the state.
