Call for dedicated breast-feeding spots in public spaces
FROM the first day of pregnancy until the child is two years old is a period of rapid growth, where the brain grows the fastest.
These first 1 000 days of life are regarded as the window of opportunity to shape longterm health.
It is exactly for this reason that a Stellenbosch University child expert is calling for companies and public transport operators across the country to set aside dedicated places to allow breast-feeding, regarded as the single most cost-effective intervention to address an infant’s nutritional needs.
Professor Mariana Kruger, the head of the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health at the university, said that despite being a leading economy on the continent, South Africa had one of the poorest breast-feeding rates, putting children at high risk of malnutrition and stunting.
Breast-feeding rates were so low in South Africa that even poorer countries such as Malawi, Peru and Madagascar had better child mortality rates because of their strong breast-feeding culture.
Kruger said that Human Rights Day, celebrated yesterday, should not only be used to campaign for the rights of adults, but should also focus on “children’s right to have access to the best care during the first 1 000 days of life, as this is of critical importance for intellectual development and lifelong health”.
“Breast-feeding is one of the most important interventions, but it’s not acceptable in many public places… South Africans still frown upon it, but it shouldn’t be like that.
“Mothers must be able to breast-feed in the workplace. Public transport should also be equipped with special seats, reserved for mothers who are breast-feeding,” she said.
Meanwhile, Health MEC Nomafrench Mbombo announced that her department would be partnering with UCT Graduate School of Business and the Department of Social Development to start a social impact bond or “social innovation financing”, aimed at improving health and development outcomes for pregnant women and children from conception to five years of age.
Although she provided no detail of the project, Mbombo said such an initiative would complement the department’s First 1 000 Days Programme, which was launched this year to promote child health.
During the first 1 000 days of a child’s life, their physical, intellectual and emotional progress develops at its quickest rate, with the brain growing by 80 percent.
“There are currently 17 million children, about one-third of all children worldwide, experiencing weak growth in length, also known as stunting. This irreversible condition, attributed to chronic malnutrition in the first phase of life, is on the rise in countries in sub-Saharan Africa,” Kruger said.
South Africa would not be the only country in the world to have dedicated seats in public transport for breast-feeding mothers, but would join some European countries, such as Belgium, in introducing them.