Dr Azra asks healthcare providers to implement breastfeeding law

Sindh Health and Population Welfare Minister Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho has asked hospitals and healthcare providers to fully implement the province’s breastfeeding law and ensure mothers receive timely, independent support to breastfeed rather than being influenced by the promotion of baby-formula products

Speaking at the concluding ceremony of a five-day lactation training programme at the Sindh Institute of Child Health & Neonatology (SICHN) on Friday, Dr Azra said Sindh remains the only province in Pakistan to have enacted the protection & promotion of breastfeeding law

The law places a clear responsibility on doctors, nurses and health facilities to protect and promote breastfeeding, especially at maternity, labour-room and newborn-care units where women often make their first feeding decisions, she added

She said breastfeeding support should not be confined to awareness messages, but must become a routine part of maternal and newborn care at every health facility. Nurses are the backbone of the healthcare system, and have a particularly important role in counselling mothers, addressing their concerns and helping them initiate breastfeeding soon after delivery, she added

She also said a woman’s health is fundamental to the health of her newborn. She called for treating women with dignity, and providing them with adequate nutrition and practical support during pregnancy and after childbirth so they can breastfeed their children

She urged health workers to counsel families on child spacing, saying that appropriate intervals between pregnancies are important for women’s health, recovery and the wellbeing of children

Reiterating recommended infant-feeding practices, the minister said babies should receive only breast milk during their first six months, following which safe, home-made and age-appropriate semi-solid food should be introduced while breastfeeding continues until the child is two years old

Health workers should check every child’s immunisation record during each clinical visit and guide parents to complete the full routine vaccination course under the Expanded Programme on Immunisation, she added. She stressed the need to improve child-health indicators in Sindh through better planning and effective use of available re

The ceremony marked the completion of a training programme for 27 nurses from maternity wards, and neonatal and paediatric units of hospitals in Karachi, Larkana, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Gambat and Khairpur

The nurses were trained as lactation expert reation with Unicef. The institute said the nurses would serve as master trainers at their respective hospitals and help build the capacity of other healthcare staff in breastfeeding counselling and lactation management

SICHN Executive Director Prof Dr Syed Jamal Raza said the initiative is intended to strengthen breastfeeding support at hospitals and help facilities move towards baby-friendly standards. The SICHN’s Integrated Quality Research & Training Academy has held 105 training programmes and trained more than 2,300 healthcare professionals in neonatal care, paediatric intensive care, pharmacy management, preventive health and public health, he added.