WORLD BREASTFEEDING WEEK

Breastfeeding: The 1st Hour - Save ONE million babies!

This year's theme,"Breastfeeding:the 1st hour,earlyinitiationand exclusive breastfeeding can save more than ONE million babies" offers an excellent opportunity to draw global attention to the important role that breastfeeding plays in improving the health of infants.

Recently there has been some good news on rates of breastfeeding. An examination of 37 countries (covering some 60 per cent of the developing world population) has revealed an increase from 34 per cent to 41 per cent in the rates of exclusive breastfeeding in the first six months of children's lives. However some studies suggest an additional 1.3 million children would be saved if this rate were increased to 90 per cent, and that neonatal mortality is reduced by 22% when children are breastfed within an hour of birth.

The challenge we face is to find creative and convincing ways at the community level to encourage breastfeeding and to provide national authorities with solid evidence of the advantages of promoting breastfeeding at the national level.

World Breastfeeding Week also provides us with an opportunity to inform people of the benefits that early and exclusive breastfeeding provides to both families and nations. If we are successful, we will have saved lives thereby contributing to progress towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.

Millennium Development Goal 4 (MDG-4) aims at reducing under-five child mortality by two thirds by 2015. According to global data, out of all 10.9 million under-five deaths,roughly 4 million babies die during the first month of life. This means that deaths will have to be brought down considerably within the first month to make a significant dent on the child mortality rates.

A recent study has shown that if ALL women began breastfeeding within the 1st hour it would save ONE million of the 4 million newborn deaths. This study from rural Ghana, based on 10,947 breastfed singleton infants, has shown that initiation of breastfeeding within the 1st hour
of birth reduced the infants’ risk of death1. On the other hand, there was a marked increase in risk with increasing delay in initiation. Overall late initiation (after day ONE) was associated with a 2.4-fold increase in risk. Giving pre-lacteal feeds, i.e. something other than mother’s milk before beginning to breastfeed also increased the risk of neonatal mortality. The study conducted on babies who survived day ONE, clearly showed that 41% of all babies who die during 2 to 28 days of life can be saved by this simple intervention: beginning breastfeeding within ONE hour of birth. When the deaths of day ONE were included, it showed 22% of all neonatal (0-28 days) deaths could be reduced.

In India, for example, this means 250,000 neonates can be saved from death annually by just this ONE act. Initiation of breastfeeding within the first hour of birth is thus, the first and most vital step towards reducing infant and under-five mortality.