A media launch is held and a petition is shared in Ghana for WBW2015

August 12, 2015 - Last update: February 10, 2023

From 1 – 7 August 2015, the 2015 World Breastfeeding Week was celebrated in Ghana, with a media launch organised by experts from the Family Health Division of Ghana Health Service (GHS). The event promoted exclusive breastfeeding for six months for the benefit of newborns and mothers. The experts shared that breastfeeding is a natural form of family planning, it helps mothers get back into shape and that women who breastfeed have a lower risk of breast and ovarian cancers. A petition was also presented at the event, addressed to the Minister of Health to ratify the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention 183 (2000).

“Let’s collaborate to keep the issue high on government’s agenda through follow ups and engaging the parliamentarians,” – Isabelle Sagoe-Moses, National Coordinator of Child Health, Ghana Health Services

Eunice Sackey, Ghana’s National Breastfeeding Coordinator, called for trade unions to join the campaign and to have a direct role in negotiating adequate maternity entitlements and security of employment for women of reproductive age. Veronica Gomez, an Infant and Young Child Feeding Consultant, added that employers who support breastfeeding at workplaces report lower health cases, less absenteeism and higher productivity.

A 20 minute segment on the Joy News “AM talk” show helped to inform Ghanaian’s about the importance of exclusive breastfeeding. Guest speakers, Veronica Gomez and Nana Akua Attafuah, Senior Nutrition Officer at Accra Health Directorate, discussed the importance of exclusive breastfeeding and potential barriers and disincentives to breastfeeding.