Breastfeeding saves 800,000 lives each year: WHO
Theorganization released the statement on Thursday on the occasion of WorldBreastfeeding Week, celebrated on Aug. 1-7 to encourage breastfeeding andimprove the health of babies, Anadolu Agency reports.
Focusingthis year on the «Empower Parents, Enable Breastfeeding» theme, theWHO is working with the UNICEF and other partners to shed light on theimportance of family-friendly policies which enable breastfeeding and helpparents nurture.
The twoorganizations call on governments and employers to adopt family-friendlypolicies including paid maternity leave for a minimum of 18 weeks as well aspaid paternity leave, said the statement.
The WHOalso called for «greater investments in comprehensive breastfeedingprograms» and an «end to the promotion of breast-milksubstitutes.»
It stressedthat family-friendly policies support women participation in the workforce,improve their physical and mental well-being and enhance family bond.
«Increasingbreastfeeding to near-universal levels could save more than 800 000 lives everyyear, the majority being children under 6 months,» it said, adding thatincreased breastfeeding could avert 20,000 maternal deaths each year due tobreast cancer.
Thebenefits of breastfeeding include «decrease in the risk of mothersdeveloping breast cancer, ovarian cancer, type 2 diabetes, and heartdisease,» the statement also said.
Dr. Okan Bulent Yildiz, an endocrinologist at Hacettepe University Medical School in the Turkish capital Ankara, told Anadolu Agency that breastfeeding after birth has the potential to reduce the risk of many diseases, including vessel stiffness as well as breast and ovarian cancers.
Studies have shown that breastfeeding reduces the risk of hypertension, diabetes and metabolic syndrome by about 20-50%, he said.
Dr. Ilke Mungan Akin, who lectures at the University of Health Sciences in Istanbul, also told Anadolu Agency that breast milk is the ideal, original and natural nutrition which cannot be replaced with anything.
«Unfortunately, only 43% of babies under six months are breastfed on a global scale. Babies, who are never breastfed, have 14 times higher risk of death than those who are exclusively breastfed», stressed Akin.