Cuba joins World Breastfeeding Week

by María Josefina Arce

As it does every year, Cuba is participating in World Breastfeeding Week, celebrated from August 1 to 7, to raise awareness of the benefits of this practice for both mother and child.

Several studies confirm that breast milk contains all the nutritional elements necessary for growth and development, as well as substances that protect against infections and allergies.

The WHO, the World Health Organization, emphasizes that this method of feeding is one of the most important interventions to reduce deaths in children under five years of age.

In our country, breastfeeding is promoted and in this way the doctor and nurse of the community develop an active work, educating and advising on its importance, because still a series of social, cultural and economic conditions influence the abandonment of breastfeeding.

Campaigns in favor of this practice, which also strengthens the bond between mother and child, are also carried out through the media.

An example of this policy is the entry into force this year of Legislative Decree No. 84, which extends social benefits for maternity leave up to 15 months of the child's life.

 In addition, there are human milk banks throughout the country for newborns who, due to certain circumstances, cannot receive this benefit directly from their mothers.

Cuba has always had the decisive support of UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund, which has helped strengthen the technical capacity of health professionals to promote this practice.

 World Breastfeeding Week, proclaimed by the World Health Organization and UNICEF since 1992, is an opportunity to promote this optimal way of feeding babies in all countries and to emphasize the importance of extending it beyond the first six months of life.