Breastfeeding in first 6 months helps prevent malnutrition

KABUL (Pajhwok): Officials of the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) have stressed breastfeeding and said over 800,000 children have suffered from malnutrition this year so far.

Deputy Health Minister Mawlavi Abdul Walli Haqqani while addressing a gathering marking the International Breastfeeding Week, said According to Islamic Sharia, children must be breastfed for up to two years, if a mother does not breastfeed her child without any valid reason, she is considered a sinner.

A mother should feed her baby only with her own milk for the first six months and then with complementary foods for two years. He said that feeding a child with breast milk plays an essential role in the health of the mother and child and protects them from various diseases.

Dr. Mohammad Wazir Hamid, head of the Nutration Department, termed breastfeeding very important and said: “If the child is breastfed in the first six months of birth; He will never be malnourished.”

He said in Afghanistan some mother did not breastfed their babies and this is one of the reasons behind malnutrition.

He said: “In the first seven months of this year, 28,228 children were admitted to hospitals in the country due to severe malnutrition; more than 10,000 them are children under the age of six months, which is 36% of all children, which is very high.”

He said This year, 857,000 children and nearly two million mothers have suffered from malnutrition, but their treatment program is ongoing; Last year, about three million mothers and children suffering from malnutrition were treated in health centers of the country.

WHO Representative Mawlana Shaikh during the ceremony stressed over breastfeeding and said the lack of breastfeeding and non-sufficient food were one of the reasons behind growing malnutrition in Afghanistan.

He said the WHO provided $170 million aid to Afghanistan to fight malnutrition and this assistance would continue.

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