The NOA/UNICEF has said that exclusive breastfeeding is a sure foundation of good nutrition, which protects children against diseases.
While sensitising Ezeleke women at Umuekwule civic hall, Ezeleke-Umuopara, Umuahia South L.G.A of Abia State during a Social Mobilization Technical Outreach, SOMTEC, the resource person, Chukwudi Ukpabi said, “exclusive breastfeeding helps children survive, but it also supports healthy brain development, improves cognitive performance and is associated with better educational achievement at age five.”
Ukpabi, who pointed out that breastfeeding allows all children to thrive and develop to their full potential, lamented that in the various communities, less than half of the new-borns benefit from early breastfeeding and even fewer are exclusively breastfed for the first six months.
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He said optimal breastfeeding of infants under two years of age has the greatest potential impact on child survival of all preventive interventions, with the potential to prevent deaths.
He said that hand-washing with soap is among the most effective and inexpensive ways to prevent diarrhoeal diseases which is responsible for majority of child deaths. In his speech, Ikechukwu Odoemelam, state director of Information, charged the women to put into practice all they were taught and carry the message to the neighbourhood.
UDOKA AGWU, UMUAHIA
