Governments at all levels have been urged to create lactating rooms in ministries, agencies and parastatals to encourage exclusive breastfeeding among nursing mothers in the country.
Speaking at the flag off of World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) and maternal, newborn, child health week organized by the Kwara state Primary Healthcare Development Agency in Ilorin, the state coordinator of the World Health Organization ( WHO), Salihu Abdulahi, said that such places, when created, would afford nursing mothers the opportunity to feed their children with breast milk up to two years, even while working.
Represented by Professor Ibrahim Abdulraheem, the WHO official also advised nursing mothers to continue with exclusive breastfeeding in order to protect, develop and make their children grow well.
According to him mothers who practice exclusive breastfeeding are always healthy and happy.
He commended the state government for approving six months maternity leave for nursing mothers.
In her address, the Executive Secretary, Kwara State Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr. Nusirat Elelu, said that the common goal of the two health interventions being flagged off was to reduce morbidity and mortality among women of child bearing age and under-5 children in the state.
Dr. Elelu also said that policies of the state government had led to improvement in the health indices of the of the state in the last five years.
In her remark on the occasion, wife of the Kwara state governor, Mrs. Olufolake Abdulrazaq, commended the state government for approving six months maternity leave for nursing mothers and setting up creches in various ministries to encourage mothers to breastfeed even while at work.
ALI MUHAMMAD RABIU
