Editor,

REFERENCE IS made to the article, "Milk campaign targets lactating mothers and children” (The New Times, August 8). It’s great to see an initiative like this which seeks to improve children’s health. However, breastfeeding up to the age of two or even longer is extremely beneficial for both mothers and babies.

Encouraging women to continue breastfeeding, while supplementing with nutritious food, will adequately meet young children’s nutritional requirements. 

Perhaps by improving a mother’s nutrition while encouraging her to breastfeed, we can meet this challenge in a more cost-effective manner.

Breast milk is a lot easier for young children to digest and contains many more beneficial elements than cow’s milk. Children below the age of two, especially, benefit from breast milk rather than cow’s milk.

Jocelyn Jelsma, Rwanda