…Health Minister announces
Public Health Minister, Dr George Norton has announced that six-month maternity leave would soon be part of Guyana’s legislation.
Minister Norton made this pronouncement while addressing the audience at the National Symposium held at the National Cultural Centre on Monday, which focused on addressing the protection, promotion and support of exclusive breastfeeding. This event was held as part of activities in observance of National Breastfeeding Week, which began on September 18.
Norton said “breastfeeding is everybody’s business”, hence the new legislation, a Government Information Agency (GINA) release informed.
Dr William Adu-Krow, Pan American Health Organisation/World Health Organisation (PAHO/WHO) Country representative, said the Organisations would continue to play their role in the promotion of exclusive breastfeeding. Dr Adu-Krow also advocated for at least six weeks paternity leave for fathers to assist and to further support exclusive breastfeeding.
The PAHO/WHO representative supported six-month maternity leave for mothers and said through the strengthening of health information systems, workplaces would be able to better support this implementation.
WHO regards breastfeeding as the normal way of providing young infants with the nutrients they need for healthy growth and development. Virtually all mothers can breastfeed, provided that they have accurate information and the support of their family, the health care system and society at large.
The theme of this year’s National Breastfeeding Week is “Breastfeeding: a key to sustainable development”. It speaks to breastfeeding being the key element in recreating the way people think about valuing well-being from the start of life. The theme also shows the links between breastfeeding and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that Guyana, along with other countries, signed on to in 2015.
These goals focus on ecology, the economy and equity worldwide. It has been noted that Guyana expects to achieve a 50 per cent exclusive breastfeeding rate by 2025; therefore, health officials strongly recommended exclusive breastfeeding from birth until six months.
The expansion of exclusive breastfeeding awareness is currently being facilitated through accreditation of a number of hospitals to ‘baby friendly status’. Eleven hospitals attained baby friendly hospital status under the Public Health Ministry’s Baby Friendly Hospitals Initiative (BHFI). This initiative, in collaboration with the WHO and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), seeks to recognise health institutions adhering to the breastfeeding policy. Twenty-nine other local hospitals are expected to attain baby friendly status after their evaluation. It has been noted that only 38 per cent of babies across the world are exclusively breast-fed.
A large billboard, highlighting the Ministry’s full support of exclusive breastfeeding, will be erected during this week at the playfield, east of the Public Health Ministry, on Brickdam.
