Breastfeeding Improves Health for Baby and Mother
Pavee Point’s Community Health Workers did a special session this week with Public Healthy Nurse Jemma Guiney on the benefits of breastfeeding to coincide with World Breastfeeding Week.
“Breastfeeding is one of the most effective and cost effective ways to save and improve the lives of children everywhere, yielding lifelong health benefits for infants and their mothers,” says UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake.
Breastfeeding is one of the keys to reducing under-five mortality. Increasing rates of breastfeeding to target levels could save the lives of 820,000 children under 5 -87 percent of them infants 6 months old and younger every year. This represents around 13 percent of all under -five child deaths annually. Breastfeeding also improves long-term health, decreasing the risk of non-communicable diseases, including childhood asthma and obesity. It can reduce the chance of diabetes and heart disease later in life. And longer duration of breastfeeding protects maternal health, helping reduce the risk of breast and ovarian cancers.
But breastfeeding rates have not increased for the last 20 years, according to UNICEF. Part of the work of the Community Health Workers is to give out the positive messages about breastfeeding and ensure that Traveller women get the information and supports they need.
