The federal government has urged Journalists to join in the campaign to educate women on breastfeeding.
Speaking during a media dialogue in Ibadan, the Assistant Director, Child Rights Information Bureau (CRIB) of the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture, Mr Olumide Osanyinpeju Said while breastfeeding is best for child survival and development, the federal government alone cannot impress the ideas on mothers.
He further called on stakeholders, Community mobilizers, relevant agencies and facilitators to join in the campaign on exclusive breastfeeding in Nigeria.
“There is need for all to rise up for the propagation, as early breastfeeding can make the difference between life and death. As you know, government alone cannot fight this cause, hence, the need to collaborate with Agencies, NGOs and other Line Partners and Organizations to advocate on how best to address the issue,” he added.
Meanwhile, the wife of the President, Mrs Aisha Buhari has urged employers in public and private sectors to create breastfeeding sections or crèche in their places of work to encourage exclusive breast-feeding.
She made the appeal at the launching of the Breastfeeding Advocacy Initiative in Abuja.
The initiative, which was launched to mark the World Breastfeeding Week is to prepare the country towards fulfilling the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) to ensure that 50 per cent of mothers exclusively breastfeed their babies by 2025.
Commending the move, Mrs Buhari said Nigeria is one of the three countries to have launched the initiative adding that observing the optimal breastfeeding practices are enormous.
She said if the babies are exclusively breastfed, it protects the babies from avoidable diseases and even deaths.
Buhari however explained that many women are not breastfeeding exclusively or at all because of certain conditions beyond their control.
“As stated in my speech at the global conference, some of the factors that may be responsible for low breastfeeding rate in the country ranges from poor health, poor living condition, working condition, wrong perspectives and low awareness in some cases,” she said.