Promoting breastfeeding

Published by the Visayan Daily Star Publications, Inc.

NINFA R. LEONARDIA Editor-in-Chief & President

CARLA P. GOMEZ Editor CHERYL CRUZ Busines Editor NIDA A. BUENAFE Sports Editor RENE GENOVE Bureau Chief, Dumaguete MAJA P. DELY Advertising Coordinator

CARLOS ANTONIO L. LEONARDIA Administrative Officer

The United Nations Children's Fund and the World Health Organization that has been recommending exclusive breastfeeding for babies for the first six months after birth have found only one out of three Filipino children are breastfed and that work is cited as the common reason why mothers stop breastfeeding.

Data from UNICEF shows 40 percent of the labor force in the Philippines is female and that working mothers spend a majority of their child's first 1,000 days at work. This is why the UN's International Labor Organization is pushing for lactation stations to be set up in all public offices nationwide to promote exclusive breastfeeding among women working in government.

ILO Philippine country director Lawrence Jeff Johnson has stressed the need to reach women workers in government and encourage them to practice exclusive breastfeeding. He says mechanisms for the effective implementation of the Expanded Breastfeeding Promotion Act in the public sector are critical considering the government employs the most number of workers.

ILO says the Philippines is among the countries with the shortest maternity leave provision, making workplace support critical to ensure that mothers can continue breastfeeding when they return to work.

Aside from women workers in government, ILO also stressed the need to promote breastfeeding among women in vulnerable employment which it defined as workers who receive minimal protection, work long hours in poor conditions, and lack the safety nets and social protection that ultimately compel them to give up breastfeeding for fear of losing their only source of income.

The Expanded Breastfeeding Promotion Act, a policy environment supporting working mothers in breastfeeding is already in place but the ILO says resources and partnerships are still needed to implement and monitor compliance to the law. Let's see if government offices can take the lead by providing lactation stations and implementing the necessary policies so the rest of the nation can follow.*