Feeding babies with nothing but breast milk for the first six months oftheir life is beneficial for the health of newborns as mother’s milkprovides the necessary nutrients for the babies to grow and protectsthem from diseases such as pneumonia and diarrhoea, a health officialhas said.
Health Deputy Minister Nguyen Viet Tienstated this at a ceremony to launch Vietnam ’s Breastfeeding Week2012 in Hanoi on August 1.
The week, with thetheme ‘the road to lifelong health begins with breastfeeding”, isjointly organised by the Ministry of Health, the UN Children’s Fund(UNICEF), the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Alive & Thriveproject.
According to Tien, in June 2012, theNational Assembly adopted the amended Labour Law, which extendsmaternity leave to six months and takes effect on May 1, 2013.
The NA also passed a Law on Advertising, which includes a ban on themarketing of breast milk substitutes for children under 24 months.
These moves have made it easier for mothers to only breastfeed duringthe first six months of a child’s life, as well as in the followingmonths, he said.
Several activities during theweek will raise awareness on the importance of breastfeeding to ensurethat all children are breastfed and develop well physically andintellectually in the future, noted Tien.
JesperMoller, UNICEF’s Acting Chief Representative in Vietnam , said that byvoting to extend maternity leave to six months, Vietnam has become aleader in developing protective laws that safeguard the well-being ofchildren and mothers.
When mothers practiceexclusive breastfeeding, it leads to healthier children and this reducesthe financial outlay spent each year on illnesses caused by poorfeeding, he said.
Therefore, Vietnam needs towork with the business community to create a child-friendly workingenvironment, which will enable mothers to continue breastfeeding aftersix months, he concluded.
According to theNational Institute of Nutrition, only 62 percent of the 1.5 millionVietnamese children born annually are breastfed in the first few hoursof their life and only one out of five mothers exclusively breastfeedtheir children in the first six months of their lives.-VNA
Health Deputy Minister Nguyen Viet Tienstated this at a ceremony to launch Vietnam ’s Breastfeeding Week2012 in Hanoi on August 1.
The week, with thetheme ‘the road to lifelong health begins with breastfeeding”, isjointly organised by the Ministry of Health, the UN Children’s Fund(UNICEF), the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Alive & Thriveproject.
According to Tien, in June 2012, theNational Assembly adopted the amended Labour Law, which extendsmaternity leave to six months and takes effect on May 1, 2013.
The NA also passed a Law on Advertising, which includes a ban on themarketing of breast milk substitutes for children under 24 months.
These moves have made it easier for mothers to only breastfeed duringthe first six months of a child’s life, as well as in the followingmonths, he said.
Several activities during theweek will raise awareness on the importance of breastfeeding to ensurethat all children are breastfed and develop well physically andintellectually in the future, noted Tien.
JesperMoller, UNICEF’s Acting Chief Representative in Vietnam , said that byvoting to extend maternity leave to six months, Vietnam has become aleader in developing protective laws that safeguard the well-being ofchildren and mothers.
When mothers practiceexclusive breastfeeding, it leads to healthier children and this reducesthe financial outlay spent each year on illnesses caused by poorfeeding, he said.
Therefore, Vietnam needs towork with the business community to create a child-friendly workingenvironment, which will enable mothers to continue breastfeeding aftersix months, he concluded.
According to theNational Institute of Nutrition, only 62 percent of the 1.5 millionVietnamese children born annually are breastfed in the first few hoursof their life and only one out of five mothers exclusively breastfeedtheir children in the first six months of their lives.-VNA
