Save the Children campaigns to highlight breastfeeding drop

The charity has launched a new campaign to highlight the fact that babies in the developing world are three times more likely to survive if they are breastfed within an hour of giving birth, because colostrum (a mother’s first milk) helps to boost babies’ immune systems.

The Superfood for Babies report says that if mothers continue to breastfeed for six months children are 15 times less likely to die from diseases like pneumonia and diarrhoea.

Save the Children says that stopping children from dying from preventable disease and hunger is possible in our lifetime, but only if world leaders step up their fight with greater funding for malnutrition, and breastfeeding in particular.

Breastfeeding rates around the world are stalling and are falling in East Asia and African countries, including Ethiopia and Nigeria.

Save the Children says that several major factors are to blame, including a severe shortage of midwives and health workers, as well as the fact that most mothers in the developing world do not have access to any paid maternity leave.

Marketing by some breast milk substitute companies has also contributed to this, the charity says, because new mothers are led to believe that formula is the best way to feed their baby.

The report highlights evidence from Save the Children in Asia, which has found that marketing by some companies violates the internationally agreed code for marketing of breast milk substitutes.

In Pakistan, a survey by the charity with Gallup, found that 20 per cent of health workers had received branded gifts from representatives of baby milk companies, including calendars, pens and prescription pads.

Around one in ten new mothers had seen advertising for breast milk substitutes while in a hospital or in a clinic.

In China 40 per cent of new mothers in a separate survey by the charity said they had been given formula samples, either by some breast milk companies’ representatives or by health workers.

A similar percentage had also been contacted by company reps when they were in hospital or by phone.

Save the Children is calling for breast milk substitute companies to increase health warnings that formula is inferior to breast milk to cover one third of its packaging.

Other factors that are leading to a fall in breastfeeding rates are ongoing traditional practices in some countries, where newborn babies are fed coffee, shea butter or ash in the first hour after they are born.

Chief executive Justin Forsyth said, ‘Despite the benefits of breastfeeding being widely known in the developed world, and it being a free, natural way to protect a newborn baby, too little attention is being paid to help mums breastfeed in poorer countries.’

He added, ‘If every baby was fed during the first hour of life – what we call the "power hour" – we estimate that up to 830,000 newborn deaths could be prevented every year; that’s 95 babies every hour. And if mums were helped to breastfeed for up to six months, many more children would be protected from killer diseases like pneumonia and diarrhoea. It is a matter of life and death.’

The charity is calling on the Government to use its hunger summit and G8 presidency in June to fund nutrition work with breastfeeding as a core component and to encourage other world leaders to follow their example

Mr Forsyth added, ‘The world is at tipping point and we could be the generation to stop children dying from preventable disease and malnutrition. This year’s G8 – with the UK in the driving seat – is a once in a lifetime opportunity to focus effort on a final push to end hunger.’