This week, August 1-7, 2019, has been designated World Breastfeeding Week by the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, and their government and non-government policymakers and partners. The purpose is to “encourage breastfeeding and improve the health of babies around the world.”
The slogan for this year is “Empower Parents, Enable Breastfeeding.” The emphasis will be on promoting family-friendly policies in public spaces and in the workplace to enable and encourage breastfeeding and parental bonding with small children at the most critical stages of their lives. These polices would include:
- Paid maternity leave for a minimum of 18 weeks.
- Paid paternity leave to encourage equally shared parental responsibility and bonding.
- Access to safe, private and hygienic spaces for expressing and storing breastmilk for when mothers return to work.
- Parent-friendly workplace to protect and support a mother’s need to take breastfeeding or expressing breaks.
- Affordable childcare.
According to WHO, “Breastfeeding promotes better health for mothers and children alike. Increasing breastfeeding to near-universal levels could save more than 800,000 lives every year, the majority being children under 6 months. Breastfeeding decreases the risk of mothers developing breast cancer, ovarian cancer, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease. It is estimated that increased breastfeeding could avert 20,000 maternal deaths each year due to breast cancer.”
For breastfeeding information from a friendly healthcare provider or an annual physical, you may walk-in to any of our convenient Primary Medical Care Center community clinics, or you may schedule an appointment by visiting our website at www.primarymed.com, or call (305)751-1500 for our Miami-Dade clinic, or (954)289-0000 for our Broward clinic.