The Director General of National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control NAFDAC, Prof Mojisola Adeyeye, has urged nursing mothers to always espouse optimal breastfeeding of their children with a view to lowering the risk of breast and ovarian cancers.
Speaking during the 2023 World Breastfeeding Week celebration with the theme; Enabling breastfeeding –making a difference for working parents, Prof Adeyeye said breastfed babies have stronger immunity, and a reduced risk of suffering many childhood illnesses and infections. As part of underscoring the importance of creating an enabling environment for child health, the Agency recently created an Office of Women’s Health, a multi-disciplinary center where issues that concern maternal and child health will be continuously addressed.
Prof. Adeyeye who was represented by the Director, Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (FSAN), Mrs. Eva Edwards, added that it is also associated with longer-term health benefits including reduced risk of overweight and obesity in childhood and adolescence.
She explained that breastfeeding also provides health benefits to mothers, by helping to prevent postpartum bleeding, support child spacing, lower the risk of breast and ovarian cancers and earlier return to pre-pregnancy body weight.
According to the NAFDAC boss, this year’s theme was apt as it was aimed at strengthening the collaboration of actors across different levels of society to support and promote breastfeeding for working parents so that women can combine breastfeeding and work. She added that this is important because workplace challenges remain one of the most
common reasons for women to stop breastfeeding earlier than recommended.
Prof Adeyeye further explained that a workplace needed adequate breastfeeding facilities to become a breastfeeding-friendly workplace, adding that lack of conducive breastfeeding environment especially for working mothers hinders breastfeeding of infants.
With provision of appropriate lactation rooms in workplaces, she maintains that employers stand to benefit as it leads to happier, more dependable, and productive employees.
‘’It also leads to reduced absenteeism because breastfeeding employees’ babies get sick less often and less severely’’, she said.
Prof. however, maintained that there is still a lot of work to be done in creating an enabling breastfeeding environment to promote the best nutrition, health, and environmental outcomes.
One contributory strategy to achieving this, she said, is enforcing compliance with the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes established to protect and promote breastfeeding and protect mothers from inappropriate marketing of breastmilk substitutes by industry.