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The Tema General Hospital is set to begin the commemoration of the 2025 World Breastfeeding Week, aimed at emphasising the critical need for sustainable support systems for breastfeeding mothers.
The week-long event, themed “Prioritise Breastfeeding: Create Sustainable Support Systems,” will highlight the hospital’s dedication to breastfeeding practices.
The week’s activities would span several critical areas, which include meticulous growth monitoring and promotion sessions and providing essential health education.
Mrs Joyce Asare Kissi, a Registered Nutritionist and Dietitian and the Head of the Nutrition Department at the Tema General Hospital, stated that there had been a decline in the number of mothers who are still exclusively breastfeeding their infants at three to six months.
“Comparing last year’s data to this year’s, there was a decrease of over 200 mothers who stopped exclusive breastfeeding at three months,” she said.
Mrs Kissi noted that children who are exclusively breastfed have minimal chances of getting diabetes and other diet-related conditions, and it also helps in the reduction of the chances of ovarian and breast cancer in women.
She stressed the importance of breastfeeding, stating that “it contains all the nutrients the child needs, and it’s easily digestible.”
She said the day-care centres were not well equipped with both the knowledge and logistics for proper storage and handling of expressed breast milk, noting that the nutrition unit would sensitise the schools on proper storage and handling of breast milk to support caregivers to promote exclusive breastfeeding.
She appealed to the government to review and expand the three-month maternal leave policy.
Source: myghanadaily
