The World Breastfeeding Conference 2012, was inaugurated here today. The Ministry of Women and Child Development and Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in partnership with International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN) organized this Conference.
The theme of the three day conference is
‘Babies need Mom-Made not Man-made’.
Addressing the gathering Smt. Krishna Tirath, the Minister for State, Independent Charge, Women and Child Development said, “The benefits of a simple practice cannot be ignored and adequate breastfeeding support for mothers and families should be provided. She mentioned “Taking stock of policies and programmes the theme for World Breastfeeding week this year was apt and timely preceding this World Conference. It is time for all of us to act and look back and set the stage for change of behavior, mindsets and make an honest attempt to improve the unacceptable levels of breastfeeding .”
The Minister also mentioned that The ICDS programme currently reaches out to about 80 million children under six years of age and 20 million pregnant and lactating mothers through a network of 1.3 million child development centres called ‘Anganwadi centres’.
The Minister also mentioned the initiatives taken by the Ministry of Women and Child Development for supporting breastfeeding like the inclusion of IYCF as a component in the redesigned service package ICDS scheme and introduction of an additional dedicated worker in 200 high burden districts to address the critical issues of IYCF for under 3s with special focus on under 6 months children.
She also informed that the Indira Gandhi Matritiya Sahyog Yojana (IGMSY) a maternity benefit scheme with conditional cash transfer of Rs 4000 for maternal care with provision of promoting breastfeeding is being implemented in 52 districts
She said that “To address the critical area of education and building awareness of adolescent girls, the Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment of Adolescent girls (SABLA) is been implemented in 200 districts.”
On this occasion the Minister External Affairs Shri Salman Khurshid, and Smt Krishna Tirath, Minister of State, Independent Charge, Women and Child Development, released a report “Are Our Babies Falling through the Gaps: The State of Policies and Programme Implementation of the Global Strategy for Infant and Young Child Feeding in 51 Countries.” compiled by International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN).
Speaking on the occasion, the Minister for External Affairs, Shri Salman Khurshid, at the outset, commended the efforts of the Ministry of Women & Child Development jointly with the Ministry of Health and IBFAN in supporting the International World Breastfeeding Conference 2012. Mentioning the age old practice & kinship of surrogate feeding and nurturing through surrogate mother in Indian system, he highlighted that bonding of mother’s milk is sometime greater than the DNA bonding.
He highlighted that there cannot be freedom of speech, if there is no freedom to live and for survival of the children in the world and exhorted all to lease listen to the cry of babies and to give them the best start for life and survival in the form of mom’s milk. He stressed that there cannot be better theme for the Conference than “Babies need Mom-Made not Man-Made”.
Emphasizing that no one can differ on this theme except for such who have very extreme commercial gains in their heart and mind to the detriment of this Human cause & humanity. He appreciated the presence of members, experts and delegates of more than 80 Countries and States in India in the Conference and mentioned that there is a need for more human milk in the world for global peace in which India always take a lead.
Secretary, Ministry of Women and Child Development, Shri Prem Narain said “Years after adoption of the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes (1981) and Declaration and the Baby-friendly Hospital Initiative (1991), it is time for governments, the international community and other concerned parties to renew their commitment to promoting the health and nutrition of infants and young children and to work together for this purpose.” He also said that in India Policies and Programmes pertaining to Breastfeeding require more attention and impetus, as it is determinant of child health and nutrition of children”.
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