From Umar Dankano, Yola
In a significant push during the 2024 World Exclusive Breastfeeding Day, the United Nations Children’s Education Fund (UNICEF) has called on fathers and grandparents to take an active role in ensuring that mothers practice exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of a newborn’s life.
Exclusive breastfeeding, which involves feeding infants only breast milk from birth to six months, has been scientifically proven to be crucial for the healthy growth and well-being of infants. However, poor compliance with this practice remains a concern, particularly in the North East region of Nigeria.
UNICEF’s Bauchi field office addressed this issue during a two-day media engagement in Yola, Adamawa State, on August 14th and 15th. The event focused on enlisting journalists as key drivers in promoting exclusive breastfeeding.
According to the 2021 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS), the practice of exclusive breastfeeding is still low in the region, with Adamawa State leading at 53.3%, followed by Plateau State at 38.6%. Taraba, Gombe, and Bauchi states recorded 33.7%, 30.7%, and 26.4%, respectively.
In an effort to improve these numbers, UNICEF engaged stakeholders, including journalists, religious, and traditional leaders, in a session titled “Beyond Mothers: Analysing the Role of Fathers and Family Members in Promoting Exclusive Breastfeeding for Child Survival.”
UNICEF Nutrition Specialist, Philomena Irene, emphasized the crucial role fathers play as decision-makers in the family, urging them to support exclusive breastfeeding.
She called on journalists to act as change agents, promoting the benefits of exclusive breastfeeding and helping to shift perceptions.
“More than 80% of mothers in the Northeast do not practice exclusive breastfeeding, which is disheartening,” Irene stated. “We need to focus on engaging fathers and family members to create a change in their approach to breastfeeding.”
During a field visit to Fufore Local Government Area, Mallam Mohammad Aliyu Fufore, a 64-year-old father of 23 children, admitted that only three of his children were exclusively breastfed.
He noted that those three were noticeably healthier, thanks to the awareness efforts by health workers and traditional leaders in the area.