Press

When:   
Friday, 1 August 2008, 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm 
Media Event: Official Launch and Presentation of Memorandum

Forum Sessions:
S-I: 11:00 pm – 1:00 pm • S-II:  4:00 pm – 5:30 pm

Who:  
• Mr. Youssouf Oomar, UNICEF Malaysia Representative
• Ms. Ma. Ines Fernandez, IBFAN
• Assoc. Prof. Dr. Adlina Suleiman, WABA
• Pn. Siti Norjinah Moin, BIB Malaysia Director

Where: 
The Garden Hotel, Mid Valley, Kuala Lumpur 

Why:
As more women enter the workforce, policies and programs must be in place to protect the dignity of motherhood and respect a mother’s right to breastfeed her infant exclusively for six months with continued breastfeeding with complementary food for two years or longer. 

Exclusive breastfeeding is proven to be the leading preventive child survival intervention, with a lasting impact of healthy children who can achieve their full potential for growth and development.

In Malaysia, however, only 1 in 7 infants are breastfed exclusively for the first 6 months of life. Inadequate maternity leave is likely one of the reasons, with working women in Malaysia only entitled to 8 weeks compulsory maternity leave, 6 weeks short of the recommended 14 weeks by the International Labour Organisation’s Maternity Protection Convention 2000 (No. 183).

Organiser: 
Breastfeeding Information Bureau, Malaysia

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For more information:

Indra Nadchatram, UNICEF Malaysia 
(+6.03) 2095 9157 ●  (+6) 013 366 3452 

Izwina Mohd Din, UNICEF Malaysia
(+6.03) 2095 9154 ● (+6) 012 243 7374