Zambia’s Vice President, the Minister of Health and civil society support WBW2015

From 1 – 7 August 2015, the 2015 World Breastfeeding Week was celebrated in Zambia with efforts including a statement from the Minister of Health and a visit to the Vice-President by the Zambia Civil Society Scaling Up Nutrition.

The Civil Society Scaling Up Nutrition Alliance urged the government to enact laws that extend maternity leave to at least six months (180 days) in order to achieve higher breastfeeding rates and to protect children from undernutrition. Data from 2013 shows 73% of infants are exclusively breastfed between 0-6 months, which has progressed since 2007 where 60.9% were breastfed. Two laws currently exist for paternity protection, the first (Employment Act CAP 268) provides 90 days for workers in formal employment and the second, (Statutory Instruments 56 and 57 of 2008) provides for 120 days maternity for vulnerable workers who have no collective agreement or are not unionized respectively.

The alliance paid a courtesy visit to Vice-President Inonge Wina, who commented on the importance of a supportive environment for breastfeeding mothers. She added that Zambia needs to come up with ways that will enable breastfeeding mothers to spend more time with their babies. She said that working mothers sometimes have to rush back to work for fear of being replaced, and that these and other practices, which impact breastfeeding, are proving costly in the fight against childhood malnutrition.

Joseph Kasonde, Minister of Health, released a press statement for a television launch of the commemoration of World Breastfeeding Week. In the statement, he identifies one of the key areas that the Ministry of Community Development, Mother and Child Health (MCDMCH) is focusing on is strengthening the support for community level interventions such as breastfeeding promotion. He shares that Zambia is scaling up the implementation of nutrition interventions through the 1,000 Days Programme, whose focus is on improving child survival among the children aged 2 years and below, and that the MCDMCH is also working on reviving the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative so that early initiation of breastfeeding can be enhanced.

In 2009, the Zambian Ministry of Health launched an advocacy campaign to promote exclusive breastfeeding. This was part of a broader national effort to improve maternal and child nutrition that included media campaigns, training of health workers and volunteers, and ongoing mentoring of health workers. Below is a video used by the Zambian government to promote breastfeeding:

Learn more about the Civil Society Scaling Up Nutrition Alliance message to the government: Lusaka Times

Learn more about the Civil Society Scaling Up Nutrition Alliance visit to the Vice-President: SUN Movement

Read the Minister of Health’s Press Statement: Ministry of Health

Click here to learn more about 2015 World Breastfeeding Week activities across SUN Countries.