The Kassena-Nankana Municipal Health Directorate has intensified efforts to promote exclusive breastfeeding, urging mothers, families and the general public to support breastfeeding practices to improve child health and development.
The Municipal Health Director, Dr. Edmond Nyanwura, made the call during a stakeholder engagement held on Friday August 14 at the Kassena-Nankana Municipal Assembly Conference Hall, as part of activities marking this year’s World Breastfeeding Week.
Dr. Nyanwura said the Directorate was extending the celebration into a month-long advocacy campaign aimed at promoting breastfeeding throughout the first 1,000 days of a child’s life.
“The importance of this is to get the 1,000 days of every child breastfeeding continuously, and that helps in the development of the children and helps reduce sicknesses,” he said.
He noted that myths and misconceptions surrounding continuous breastfeeding continued to persist in some communities, making stakeholder engagement critical to addressing the challenge.
According to him, the Directorate had therefore brought together health workers, institutional managers, Assembly members and opinion leaders to discuss the roles they could play in strengthening advocacy for breastfeeding.
Dr. Nyanwura expressed appreciation to International Development Enterprises (iDE Ghana) for supporting the Directorate with Vitamin A supplements and dewormers for children under five years.
He said the Municipal Health Directorate was also taking advantage of the free primary healthcare initiative to reach more residents with essential healthcare services at the community level.
He, however, encouraged residents to enrol onto the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), explaining that insurance coverage would be important for accessing further medical attention when cases requiring higher-level care were identified after primary healthcare services.
Nutrition Project Manager at iDE Ghana, Ebenezer Kwakye, said the organisation was implementing a consortium programme known as Transforming Lives Through Nutrition, sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which also focuses on breastfeeding.
He said the stakeholder engagement provided an opportunity to bring key actors together to address myths and misconceptions surrounding breastfeeding and strengthen advocacy for improved child health.
Kwakye said the success of the breastfeeding campaign required collective responsibility and urged mothers, family members and the general public to actively support breastfeeding.
“Let’s not isolate our mothers; let’s encourage them and be supportive. Everyone has a role to play in the life of a child. So, let’s not leave it to mothers alone,” he said.
The stakeholder engagement brought together key actors in the municipality to strengthen community support for breastfeeding and encourage practices that promote the health and development of children.
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