WCD Ministry celebrates World Breastfeeding Week

The Union Women and Child Development Ministry is celebrating the World Breastfeeding Week with a focus on "protection, promotion and support" of breastfeeding that it hopes will help in breaking the vicious cycle of malnutrition.

The WCD Ministry, in a statement, said this nutrition intervention will also aid the government to achieve the National Nutrition Goals and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 2030.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), increasing breastfeeding to near-international levels will help in saving more than 8,00,000 lives every year, the majority being children under six months.

During the week, activities like Annaprashan ceremony and quiz competitions on Infant and Young Child Feeding are being conducted in 30 states and Union Territories from August 1-7 on the theme of 'Empower Parents, Enable Breastfeeding', the ministry said.

The activities are beng conducted through 43 community food and nutrition extension units of the Food and Nutrition Board, involving the state health department functionaries, home science colleges, medical institutes, universities, NGOs and other stakeholders.

The objective of the week-long programmes is to create awareness among parents about breastfeeding, importance of initiation, exclusive breastfeeding, and adequate and appropriate complementary feeding.

During the week, the ministry said, awareness generation on healthy eating, maintenance of hygiene and sanitation will be held for pregnant and lactating mothers.

"In addition to this, awareness programmes will be held at the village level through puppet shows, skits, dance and drama, films, slide shows and rallies," the statement added.