Take breastfeeding seriously: Report

NEW DELHI: India has failed to put in place adequate mechanism to support breastfeeding as policy issues on this front, which could save the lives of millions of infants, have been “neglected”, says a report prepared by the World Breastfeeding Trends Initiative (WBTi).

The WBTi is a global initiative to assess policy and programmes that support breastfeeding in 51 countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

The report says India stands in the yellow band in a grid of red, yellow, blue, and green in ascending order of performance and has not improved much compared to its status in 2005, when a similar assessment was done.

Observing that more than two million of the 27 million born annually in India die, the report says the mortality rate can be brought down if gaps between policy and its implementation are bridged.

Identifying diarrhoea and pneumonia as the primary causes of infant mortality, the report says breastfeeding is the number one intervention.

“It is deplorable that nothing has been done except for a few posters, a little training and lip service,” it said.