Promoting breastfeeding is a social and economic investment along with health

Bhopal: Investing in breastfeeding is not only a health priority, but it is also a social and economic investment, which proves to be extremely beneficial for the society in the long term. It is a proven fact that proper breastfeeding can bring the desired reduction in infant mortality rate. Keeping this objective in mind, a high-level meeting was organized at the NHM office, Bhopal on World Breastfeeding Week. The meeting was chaired by Mission Director NHM Dr. Saloni Sidana. Director Medical Education Dr. Aruna Kumar, Director IEC Dr. Rachna Dubey, along with various subject experts were present.

Mission Director Dr. Saloni Sidana said that like government hospitals, private hospitals should also be developed as mother-child friendly institutions. Giving top priority to breastfeeding, banning the promotion of its alternatives and awareness campaigns, training, monitoring mechanisms and collaborative policy amendments in private health institutions were also discussed in detail in the meeting. The main objective of the meeting was to promote infant and child feeding practices along with effective enforcement of the Infant Milk Substitute (IMS) Act and improvement in policy making. Along with this, emphasis was also laid on strengthening the infant nutrition system by empowering the private sector with the support of the government machinery. Dr. Manjusha Goyal (Head of Department, Pediatrics), Dr. Shabana Sultan (Head of Department, Gynecology and Obstetrics) and Dr. Shikha Malik (Head of Department, Pediatrics) from Gandhi Medical College, Bhopal were present in the meeting. Dr. Jyotinath Modi (Professor, Gynecology and Obstetrics) from All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Bhopal participated. Apart from this, Dr. Pankaj Shukla (Indian Medical Association), Dr. Mahesh Maheshwari (President of Indian Academy of Pediatrics), Dr. Shweta Anand (Joint Secretary, Academy of Pediatrics), Dr. Abha Jain (President of Gynecologists Federation), Dr. Randhir Singh (President of Madhya Pradesh Nursing Home Association), Dr. Manish Sharma (Chief Medical and Health Officer, Bhopal) and Dr. Rakesh Srivastava (Civil Surgeon, Jaiprakash Hospital, Bhopal) were also present. Ms. Pushpa Awasthi (Nutrition Specialist), Dr. Prashant Kumar (Health Specialist), Ms. Jhimli Barua and Ms. Monica Morya (Social Behavior Change Specialist) from UNICEF, Madhya Pradesh and Dr. Himani Yadav (Deputy Director, Child Health) and State Level Advisors from National Health Mission also participated.