Young
Indian mother breastfeeding her newborn child, Amber near Jaipur, Rajasthan,
India.
Nearly
one lakh children die every year in India due to diseases that could have been
prevented
through breastfeeding, according to a United Nations report, which also notes
that
mortality
and other losses attributed to inadequate breastfeeding can cost the country’s
economy
$14 billion.
The
Global Breastfeeding Scorecard, a new report by the United Nations Children’s
Fund
(UNICEF)
and World Health Organisation (WHO) in collaboration with the Global
Breastfeeding
Collective, points out that breastfeeding not only helps prevent diarrhoea and
pneumonia,
two major causes of death in infants, it also helps reduce mothers’ risk of
ovarian
and
breast cancer, two leading causes of death among women.
In
China, India, Nigeria, Mexico and Indonesia alone, inadequate breastfeeding is
responsible
for
more than 2,36,000 child deaths each year.
In
these countries, the estimated future economic cost of mortality and cognitive
losses
attributed
to inadequate breastfeeding are estimated to be almost USD 119 billion a year.
The
report says that despite a reported 55 per cent exclusive breastfeeding rate in
children
below
the age of six months, the large population in India and high under five
mortality
means
that an estimated 99,499 children die each year as a result of cases of
diarrhoea and
pneumonia
that could have been prevented through early initiation of breastfeeding,
exclusive
breastfeeding
for the first six months, and continued breastfeeding.
Further,
the high level of child mortality and growing number of deaths in women from
cancers
and type II diabetes attributable to inadequate breastfeeding is estimated to
drain the
Indian
economy of $7 billion. Together with another $7 billion in costs related to
cognitive
losses,
India is poised to lose an estimated $14 billion in its economy, or 0.70 per
cent of its
Gross
National Income.
“Breastfeeding
gives babies the best possible start in life,” says Tedros Adhanom
Ghebreyesus,
WHO Director General.
Breastmilk
works like a baby’s first vaccine, protecting infants from potentially deadly
diseases
and giving them all the nourishment they need to survive and thrive, he adds.
Yet,
the scorecard, which evaluated 194 nations, reveals that no country in the
world fully
meets
the recommended breastfeeding standards. It found that only 40 per cent of
children
younger
than six months are given nothing but breastmilk and only 23 countries have
exclusive
breastfeeding rates above 60 per cent.
The
scorecard was released at the start of World Breastfeeding Week alongside a new
analysis,
demonstrating that an annual investment of only $4.70 per newborn is required
to
increase
the global rate of exclusive breastfeeding among children under six months to
50 per
cent
by 2025.
The
analysis suggests that meeting this target can save the lives of 5,20,000
children under
the
age of five and potentially generate $300 billion in economic gains over 10
years, as a
result
of reduced illness and health care costs and increased productivity.
“Breastfeeding
is one of the most effective — and cost effective — investments nations can
make
in the health of their youngest members and the future health of their
economies and
societies,”
says UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake.
“By
failing to invest in breastfeeding, we are failing mothers and their babies —
and paying a
double
price: in lost lives and in lost opportunity.”
Globally,
investment in breastfeeding is far too low. Each year, governments in lower and
middle
income countries spend approximately $250 million on breastfeeding promotion —
donors
provide only an additional $85 million.
Source: The Hindu
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