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Church help need in Breastfeeding Campaign
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MANILA, June 26, 2007—Dr. Shigeru Omi, World Health Organization, director for Western Pacific region said the Church could play an important role in getting mothers back to breastfeeding in lieu of milk substitutes which has gained stronghold in Filipino households due to aggressive advertising and promotional campaigns.
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In an exclusive interview with the CBCP Monitor, Dr. Omi said “the Church is still very influential in many societies and it could help our advocacy.”
He explained the Church can use all the opportunity to inform the people that breastfeeding is “very, very effective in the health development of children not only biologically but also mentally (because) you development the bond between mother and child.”
He added “the Church, through its priests and ministers can inform everyone in their congregation that breastfeeding is the most effective intervention to promote the healthy development of children.”
In a related development, Stephen Atwood, UNICEF regional Health and Nutrition Adviser for East Asia and the Pacific said he has noticed very low government investment in health services.
He said government investment in Public Health is given as a mere percentage of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) that’s spent on Health.
He stressed that “from 2000 to 2004 data, the Philippines is the third lowest in East Asia and the Pacific region, behind Myanmar and Indonesia.” And that from the country’s national budget, “only 1% is allocated to Health and 11% is allocated to Education.”
Atwood hastened to add “we’re not asking that you take the money from Education to give it to Health. We’re asking that the allocation for Social Services be increased so that Health gets a larger part of the over-all budgetary pie.”
Both WHO and UNICEF recommend six months of exclusive breastfeeding for best infant growth, development and health.
However, most Filipina mothers’ breastfeed for less than 24 days on the average according to the 2003 National Demographic and Health Survey which showed a significant reduction from 1.4 months noted in the 1998 survey.
It has been reported 16,000 child mortality per year in the Philippines is largely due to inappropriate feeding.
UNICEF said a formula-fed infant is 14.2 times more likely to die of diarrhea than a breastfed infant.
World Health Organization said P430 million is spent yearly for hospitalization, health consultations and medicines for illnesses due to formula feeding.
On top of all these, Filipino families spend an estimated amount of P21.5 billion a year for infant formula which require clean water and fuel for sterilization.
According to UNICEF, because of limited milk production in the Philippines, the country relies on milk imports to provide breast milk substitutes.
NEDA said the country spent P20.5 billion or US $381 million on milk imports from January to November 2004. (CBCP News-Melo Acuña)
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