To improve health outcomes for women, infants and children, Founder of Wellbeing Foundation Africa, WBFA, Mrs Toyin Ojora-Saraki has said that breastfeeding is the best food security for infants as it is the perfect, safer and cheaper source of nutrition for babies.
Making the call during the 2022 Breastfeeding Week themed, ‘Set Up for Breastfeeding and Educating Support”
Speaking on the importance of breastfeeding, Ojora-Saraki, said: “Breastfeeding is food security for infants from the very beginning of life. Placing the mother-baby dyad at the core of our programming at Wellbeing Foundation Africa tackles early initiation and nutrition supplementation, to end cycles of poor health.”
WBFA in 2018-2021, implemented the WBFA-UNFPA-Nutrition International Mamacare + NutritionLift (Mamacare+N) programme and it recorded a remarkable impact in 30 selected facilities and 32 communities in the Federal Capital Territory Abuja, Kwara and Lagos states.
Through the impactful programme, midwives used the Laerdal breast models to demonstrate best breastfeeding practices to pregnant women and nursing mothers.
She said the programme resulted in a consistent top performance in the aforementioned states in reducing maternal neonatal, child mortality and morbidity rates thus improving survival indices, with Kwara State having the lowest mortality and morbidity in Nigeria.
“In the first quarter of 2020, together with Alive and Thrive, WBFA launched the Alive and Thrive project, an initiative to save lives, prevent illness, and ensure healthy growth and development through improved breastfeeding and complementary feeding practices and purchased and donated 370 newly purchased breast models, breast jackets and infant models to 670 health facilities in Lagos and Kaduna State for ongoing support,” the statement reads.
So far, over 547 healthcare workers have been trained by WBFA using the Laerdal Global Health simulation training models products as the foundation continues to commit to contributing towards enhancing the quality of the educational experience for mothers at antenatal classes and building their confidence in preparation for childbirth and breastfeeding.