Support working mothers even more

Yesterday, the Ministry of Health rolled out the national breastfeeding campaign in a bid to increase the levels of breastfeeding countrywide. The ministry, working with its development partners, aims to educate Rwandans on the importance of exclusively breastfeeding babies for the first six months of their lives. This campaign to educate mothers is extremely timely.Evidence shows that there really is no substitute for breast milk. The World Health Organisation recommends exclusive breastfeeding for at least six months to promote health. According to the 2010 Rwanda Demographic and Health Survey, the number of infants exclusively breastfed declined from 88 per cent in 2005 to 61 per cent in 2010. This decline is unfortunate. Research has shown that, as standards of living increase, breastfeeding levels fall as well. We must arrest this trend as fast as possible; we must give our children all the tools they need to become healthy, intelligent members of society.And to do this, we need to support working, breastfeeding mothers as much as possible. Women constitute a big number of the country’s workplace. The recently passed Labour Law halved maternity leave, from three to one and a half months, making it extremely difficult for women to breastfeed their children. We mustn’t make women have to choose between children’s welfare and their jobs. That would be extremely unfortunate.

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Support working mothers even more