By Gloria Nakiyimba
A new report released by United Nations Children’s Fund- UNICEF shows that 37% of mothers in Uganda do not exclusively breastfeed their babies in the first 6 months. According to the report, 77 million new-born children world wide are not breast fed within an hour of birth, depriving them of the essential nutrients, antibodies and skin-to-skin contact with their mother that protect them from disease and death.
The report has been released to mark the beginning of the World Breast Feeding Week running from 1st August until 7th August to promote breast feeding Catherine Ntabadde Makumbi UNICEF’s communication specialist in Uganda explains that failure to exclusively breast feed increased the risk of illness of babies, compromise their growth and also raise the risk of death or disability