Several hospitals organised meetings to promote awareness about the benefits of breastfeeding as part of the World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) under the banner of the Indian Academy of Pediatrics (IAP). With an audience consisting mostly mothers of newborns the doctors had the chance to talk only about the benefits of breastfeeding to their babies and the mothers. But recent work has shown that increasing rates of breastfeeding has a positive impact on society has a whole.
TheLancet , a highly respected British medial journal, in a series of articles has underscored the links between investing in breastfeeding and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the universal global goals adopted by world leaders in 2015 that aimed at ending poverty, fighting inequality and tackling climate change by 2030.
The articles in The Lancet argue that improving breastfeeding practices makes the world healthier, smarter, and more equal. The evidence that breastfeeding benefits women, children, as well as communities and societies, has never been stronger -- but breastfeeding rates have remained stagnant for the last 20 years.
The Lancet study sees breastfeeding as a critical key in achieving the sustainable development goal of ending hunger and improving nutrition (SDG no. 2) and promoting health and wellbeing (SDG no. 3).
Breastfeeding also can help drive the achievement of goals which includes inclusive education and lifelong learning and it is an essential part of a healthy early childhood -- supporting both physical and cognitive development (SDG no. 4). It is associated with higher cognitive ability, increased I.Q. scores and better learning and literacy outcomes -- all of which can translate into increased productivity and earnings later in life. These improved outcomes in health and learning in turn support the achievement of other goals -- including SDG nos. 1, 8 and 10, which concern ending poverty, promoting economic growth and reducing inequalities.
Stimulates economic growth
Breastfeeding is a cost-effective way to increase human capital and stimulate economic growth. Globally, the cost of lower cognitive ability associated with lack of breastfeeding amounts to about $300 billion annually.
The health benefits associated with optimal breastfeeding could save billions of dollars in healthcare costs each year by greatly reducing hospital admissions for infectious diseases.
And breastfeeding can also play a roll in achieving gender equality, the central focus of SDG no. 5 (reducing inequality). For example, exclusive breastfeeding can promote birth-spacing -- enabling women to delay subsequent pregnancy and empowering them to exercise greater reproductive autonomy, especially in countries and communities where women have limited access to quality contraceptive information and care. In turn, this can increase the ability of women and girls to return to school, and to work outside the home and better support their families.
Rainbow Children’s Hospital specialist Manu Jasti said that the Indian scenario was quite dismal.
“According to National Family Health Survey-3 data, about 20 million children are not able to receive exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life and about 13 million do not get good, timely and appropriate complementary feeding after six months along with continued breast feeding. Over the past several years, India has failed to witness any remarkable progress in infant feeding practices,” she said.
