The Gambia joined the international community to observe, during the first week of August, the World Breastfeeding Week in order to support and protect breastfeeding women. With a view to supporting mothers to provide a golden start for their children, this year's theme was centred on "Mother support: going for gold".
 
In The Gambia, the National Nutrition Agency (NaNa),  in collaboration with its partners, is commemorating the event during the whole month of August.

As part of the activities for this year, the agency organised a march pass, which started from the Bakau Trust Bank branch and ended at the agency's headquarters and was followed by speeches revolving around the theme.

Speaking at the occasion, Fatou Jasseh-Kuyateh, permanent secretary, Office of the Vice-President, said that breastfeeding is perfect  for the child as breast milk alone can provide all that a baby needs for the first six months of life. It is also proven, she noted,  that mothers' breast milk fosters optimal growth and development of the baby's brain, immune system and general physiology, and constitutes a vital factor in preventing common illnesses, especially diarrhoea and infections of the respiratory and urinary tracts. She went on to say that children who are not breastfed, are likely to be malnourished, a situation that negatively impacts on their physical growth and development.

She further revealed that nutritional deficiencies also reduce children's capacity and motivation to learn and as a result, a high number of them do not reach their full academic potential.

According to her, breastfeeding is economical and costs less than artificial feeding. A mother, she said, who breastfeeds her baby exclusively saves money, energy and time and these can be used in other economically viable ventures and meeting other basic needs such as purchasing other food varieties, paying school fees for the older siblings, working on the farm or garden etc.

Exclusive breastfeeding therefore, leads to decreased economic costs for families, communities, the health system and the environment.
In The Gambia, maternal mortality rate, estimated at 730/100,000 line births, is unacceptably high. There are many factors associated with this high mortality rate, key amongst them are anaemia and too frequent and too close pregnancies.

 This has implications on the meagre health resources. Both anaemia and too close or frequent pregnancies can be prevented by adequate optimal infant and young child feeding practices including exclusive breastfeeding. Breastfeeding helps the uterus to return to its pre-pregnancy position and helps stop bleeding after delivery, thus reducing blood loss and hence anaemia. Breast cancer is more common in mothers who either haven't breastfed or breastfeed for a shorter time.

She disclosed that, countries and health systems suffer the effects of lack of breastfeeding through increased cost of treating infections, obesity, diabetes and other chronic diseases, increased cost of time off work by mothers of sick children, negative environmental impact of landfills for disposal of cans and packing and multiple cost of artificial foods.
She further stated that a country that is food and nutrition secure is likely to be developed and breastfeeding can help in achieving this.

This shows that breastfeeding is important for national development and therefore every effort should be made to protect, promote and support breastfeeding. She added that the government of The Gambia under the leadership of His Excellency, the president, Dr Alhaji Yahya Jammeh, is committed to this course and will continue to create the enabling environment for the development and survival of children

"If you did anything to support a woman planning to breastfeed or a mother already breastfeeding her child, you deserve a GOLD MEDAL. Supporting breastfeeding is important- breast is precious, breast milk is best- with Breastfeeding Everyone Wins", she concluded.

Jegan Grey Johson, who deputised for the UNICEF representative, said that in  The Gambia, UNICEF in partnership with NaNA is working to improve breastfeeding and particularly exclusive breastfeeding rates, improved nutrition and micronutrient intake. The enactment of the national food bills including the breastfeeding regulations are concrete actions in the right direction. UNICEF is also working with NaNa to expand the BFCI strategy, which has now been successfully rolled out in all the health regions.

According to him, the current rate for exclusive breastfeeding is at 41% nationally with much lower rates in some regions of the country. Studies find that almost half of all mothers in Basse breastfeed their children, whilst fewer mothers in Banjul (1 in 5) practice breastfeeding.

''These disparities could be due to many factors, but the likelihood of more professional women joining the workforce, spending more time at work and less time at home, may be a factor. Another factor may be an attitudinal one, whereby the drawbacks of modernisation have caught up with us, especially in the urban area- where breastfeeding is deemed 'old' fashioned, un-cool, and a practice embraced by the poor and the purchasing of powdered milk for babies seen as a sign of affluence and class.

These possible perceptions are worrying, because all the facts, the studies, and incontrovertible proof show that breast milk is best. It is best for both mother and child, and in the long run best for society,'' he indicated.

According to him, this year's theme encourages them to ensure the reinforcement of a ''breastfeeding culture'' and its vigorous defence against incursions of a "bottle-feeding culture." Many mothers neither exclusively breastfeed for the recommended two years or more, and instead replace breast milk with commercial or other substitutes. ''We must therefore use this week, which is dedicated to both mother and child, to promote and highlight the benefits of breastfeeding. We must use this opportunity to continue to advocate for workplace support for breastfeeding and strengthening of community structures such as mother-to-mother support groups.

Men must also see their responsibility not only as fathers but also as people who can encourage their wives to breastfeed their children. Likewise young boys and girls who also can encourage their mothers to breastfeed their infant brother or sisters should do so. All of us have a role to play, and we have the opportunity to take up our role to realise the goal for every child, everywhere in The Gambia,'' he concluded.