Say Yes, Autumn 2003: Breastfeeding Support

The media has been very supportive of the campaign at national and This Autumn will see a number of important developments for the better health and well-being of Turkish children. The closing months of 2003 will see a renewed drive to promote the unquestionable benefits of exclusive breastfeeding, ensuring that every newborn child gets the best start in life.

The benefits of exclusive breastfeeding are well-known and documented. Breastfeeding costs nothing and breastfed babies are less likely to suffer from malnutrition, gastro-intestinal illnesses, pneumonia, ear infections and some cancers, diabetes or suffer cot death. Breastfeeding mothers have a lower risk of ovarian cancers.

Baby bottle disease, the fatal combination of diarrhœa, dehydration and malnutrition which results from unsafe bottle feeding is the cause of one and a half million infant mortalities, worldwide, every year.

Yet rates of exclusive breastfeeding are dropping all over Turkey. Unaware of the benefits, mothers in rural areas, are encouraged to wean their newborn on solids or to offer substitutes at the earliest opportunity as do women under pressure of time, work commitments and the misconception that formula foods are just as good.

During ‘World Breastfeeding Week’, at the beginning of October, a concerted media campaign will run at national and local levels in order to raise public awareness. ‘Welcome to Life’ brochures and posters will be widely distributed in tandem with a series of short films and spot broadcasts on television.

In 2002, Turkey had 141 ‘Baby-Friendly Hospitals’ (BFHs), actively promoting the benefits of exclusive breastfeeding. This year, the Minister for Health, Dr Recep Akdağ ordered that all hospitals should be ‘Baby-Friendly’ by the close of 2003.

However, most new mothers leave hospital within twenty-four hours of delivery so the influence of hospital staff on healthy breastfeeding practices is limited.

In order to counteract this, ‘Breastfeeding Mothers’ Support Groups’ (MSGs) are to be established throughout Turkey. Pilot groups are currently operating in İstanbul and Diyarbakır and the programme is being expanded to include ten provinces account for 40% of the annual birth rate. It is planned that five hundred MSGs will have been established by the close of 2005.

Last year, Konya was nominated as a ‘Baby-Friendly City’ and local hospitals, health services and centres, pharmacies and markets vigorously promoted the benefits of exclusive breastfeeding. Following the success of the campaign, it is hoped that as many as seven more major cities will be nominated baby-friendly in the coming year.

UNICEF and the Ministry of Health (MOH) continue to promote exclusive breastfeeding by:

• raising awareness of the importance of breastfeeding;
• providing confidence and training through Mothers’ Support Groups (MSGs);
• involving midwives in the creation and running of MSGs;
• supporting effective implementation of the International Code of Marketing for Breastmilk Substitutes;
• strengthening BFH/MSG links;
• promoting breastfeeding through the Family and Child Training (FACT) programme;

The ultimate success of the Support for Breastfeeding Programme ultimately relies on the strengthening of primary health care services in order to sustain exclusive breastfeeding outside the hospital.

Read more about Exclusive Breastfeeding during the First Six Months in the UNICEF Turkey Press Centre and our Programmes section.

The Spring 2003 issue of Say Yes features the story of a new mother’s determination to breastfeed her newborn baby and also some interesting research from the University of Queensland, Australia, into the links between breastfeeding and cognitive development.

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