Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Ebonyi House seeks executive bill on exclusive breast-feeding
From Leo Sobechi, Abakaliki

TO encourage exclusive breast-feeding among mothers, the Speaker of Ebonyi State House of Assembly, Mr. Augustine Nwankwagu, has urged the Ministry of Health to sponsor a bill that makes practice mandatory for nursing mothers.

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Nwankwagu spoke at the Assembly complex when the Ebonyi State Committee on Breastfeeding/Infant and Young Child Feeding led by Mrs. Maria Orji, visited the legislature.

Represented by the Deputy Speaker, Dorothy Ogonnaya Obasi, Nwankwagu said the legislature would pass the law with dispatch, noting that the measure would compliment the efforts of both the state government and wife of the governor, Mrs. Josephine Elechi, in reducing child and maternal mortality.

Orji said the law was long overdue, since according to her, cr¸ches were at one point set up in ministries and headquarters of local councils to enhance breast-feeding by working mothers.

She, therefore, charged healthcare service providers to sensitise the populace on the need for strict compliance to exclusive breast-feeding, adding that the preference to synthetic milk was still prevalent among the young mothers.

In her remarks, the Coordinator of Exclusive Breastfeeding, Mrs. Maria Orji, said even though manufacturers of the non-natural milk brands had reduced, the confidence of mothers in breast milk through the efforts of the state government, had yielded fruits.

Chairman of the House Committee on Health, Dr. Jap Okolo, said since human beings started shunning God's provisions, their wellbeing had nose-dived, pointing out that local delicacies are still rich natural ingredients.