Zimbabwe’s Civil Society Alliance plans a full week of activity to promote WBW2015

From 1 – 7 August 2015, the 2015 World Breastfeeding Week was celebrated in Zimbabwe with a number of activities led by the Zimbabwe Civil Society Organisations in Scaling Up Nutrition Alliance. These included: Sensitization workshopswere heldin the World Health Organization Boardroom,Parirenyatwa for: Street facilitators (29…

August 13, 2015 - Last update: February 10, 2023

Sensitization workshopswere heldin the World Health Organization Boardroom,Parirenyatwa for:
- Street facilitators (29 July 2015)
- Company Executives (30 July 2015)
- Media Stakeholders (31 July 2015)
Breastfeeding text sms were sent from 1 – 7 August 2015
Radio and TV programmes on breastfeeding
A National Launch by the Minister of Health and Child Care at the Lafarge Cement Stadium and graced by Pastor and Mai Charamba. At the National Launch, the Minister of Health and Child Care said that employers in the country must allow mothers time to breastfeed. The ministry’s nutrition manager Monica Muthi says most mothers do not have enough time to breastfeed which negatively affects the growth of most children in the country.
A breastfeeding street awareness campaign

During a recent event in June, before World Breastfeeding Week, on the occasion of the Zimbabwe Civil Society Organisations in Scaling Up Nutrition Alliance Global Day of Action, the Ministry of Health and Child Care’s deputy director – Nutrition, Mrs Ancikaria Chigumira gave a statement on the nutrition situation in Zimbabwe. She highlighted recent achievements and the challenges. She said, because people lacked knowledge on infant and young child feeding, stunting was a major problem in Zimbabwe. She highlighted that even though there has been a decrease in the stunting rates from 35% in 2009 to 27.6% in 2014, more still needs to be done to meet the global health targets of 40% reduction by 2025. Rates of exclusive breastfeeding were also said to be low (40%) for a breastfeeding nation like Zimbabwe. She also indicated that there is an increase in prevalence of overweight and obesity which calls for more nutrition and health education.