Monday, August 01, 2005

Breastfeeding a priority to save lives and nurture childhood potential

Zorzor, LIBERIA (UNICEF/1 August 2005): During World Breastfeeding Week, which gets underway today, UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and other partners, is urging all mother’s to exclusively breastfeed for the first six months of a newborn’s life and then continue to breastfeed while providing nutritionally adequate and safe complementary foods for two years or longer.

“Exclusive breastfeeding is the number one preventive intervention for child survival, with the potential to save at least an additional 1.3 million lives per year,” said UNICEF Liberia Representative Angela Kearney. “Continued breastfeeding with appropriate complementary feeding, which is the theme of this year's World Breastfeeding Week, could save nearly 600,000 children. This reflects the potential to save at least 5,000 more child lives each and every day.

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