Morocco Launches Breastfeeding Campaign

Rabat – Morocco’s Ministry of Health and Social Protection has launched a national campaign to promote breastfeeding in partnership with the National Initiative for Human Development (INDH).

Under the slogan “Breastfeeding: for a better investment in early childhood development,” the awareness-raising campaign runs from May 14 to June 14, 2022, and seeks to encourage women to early and exclusive breastfeed infants.

The campaign is supported by scientific research highlighting the health benefits of breastfeeding during the first six months on child growth, in both childhood and adolescence, the ministry said in a statement.

Read also: Public Breastfeeding in Morocco and UK: Is Breast Best?

A central goal of the initiative is to achieve by 2025 50% of early breastfeeding within one hour after the infant’s delivery, and 50% also of exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months of a child’s life, the ministry stressed.

To ensure the achievement of the desired objectives, the ministry and INDH have prepared materials and will organize awareness-raising activities for health professionals and the target populations.

This campaign will mobilize ministerial departments, non-governmental organizations, and the media to support efforts for activities at a regional level, noted the ministry’s statement. In particular, the statement added, mobilization is expected to be achieved through the dissemination of awareness messages to ensure that they reach all people, especially mothers.

The campaign targets women as well for breastfeeding’s benefits, with research indicating that proper breastfeeding reduces the risks of many diseases such as breast and ovarian cancer, diabetes, and heart disease.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), prolonged breastfeeding is closely linked to high scores on intelligence tests and academic achievement. In other words, breastfeeding contributes to better neurocognitive development.

Morocco rates very low on early breastfeeding. Only 42% of women practice early breastfeeding across the country, and only 35% of infants benefit from exclusive breastfeeding during their first 6 months, according to the latest National Population and Family Health Survey.

Despite efforts, “3 in 5 babies are not breastfed in the first hour of life,” according to the WHO. The global health body recommends mothers to initiate breastfeeding within one hour of birth and should continue for up to two years or beyond. “Infants should also receive nutritionally adequate and safe complementary foods, while continuing to be breastfed,” it said.