This week is the World Breastfeeding Week and APHRC through the Maternal Infant and Young Child Nutrition (MIYCN) research team will be celebrating, promoting and supporting the importance of breastfeeding for mothers and children.
Activities for the week kicked off with a launch at the Pumwani Maternity Hospital organized by the Ministry of Health that was attended by Milka Njeri, a research assistant with the MIYCN team. APHRC has also carried out an awareness campaign on social media. In addition, on the 6th of August, the head of the MIYCN team Dr. Elizabeth Kimani will go on air on K24 Television (Kenya) to talk about our work in this area. We shall share footage of that interview here as soon as it becomes available. Dr.Kimani also conducted an interview about our work in this area with the Business Daily Newspaper on the 5th of August.
The MIYCN project is an intervention that involves personalized home-based counseling of pregnant women and mothers of infants on maternal nutrition and optimal infant and young child feeding practices. The intervention is delivered by Community Health Workers (CHWs), who are already part of the existing primary health care system.
A community health worker gives advice to a mother as part of the MIYCN initiative.
World Breastfeeding Week (WBW), which is commemorated between August 1– 7, is an annual celebration coordinated by the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action to emphasize the value of breastfeeding for mothers and children. This year’s World theme is “Breastfeeding: A Winning Goal – for life!” highlighting that achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and future development goals requires more early, exclusive and continued breastfeeding.
Join the WBW conversation on twitter using the hashtag #WorldBreastfeedingWeek. You can also read Elizabeth Kimani’s blog article on myths surrounding breastfeeding, as well as Milka Njeri’s blog article on the role of community health volunteers in infant and child nutrition. Do not forget to share these blog articles with your friends as well.