Unicef: Breastfeeding a Critical Protection for Iraqi Infants

UNICEF: BREASTFEEDING PROVIDES CRITICAL PROTECTION FOR IRAQI INFANTS

Risks of Waterborne Diseases Rising in Iraq’s Camps & Cities

AMMAN, 12August 2007 -As Iraq’s summer heat climbsto near 500C, UNICEF is urgently calling for mothers to exclusively breastfeed young babiesundersix months of age,both to prevent dangerous waterborne diseases and to improve nutrition.

The children’s agency warned that the combination of heat, unsafe water and unhygienic sanitary conditions in many of Iraq’s cities and temporary camps could spark a diarrhoea outbreak in very young children, causing dehydration, malnutrition and possibly even death.

Roger Wright, UNICEF’s representative for Iraq, said just over one million babies were born in Iraqover the last 12 months, at least 40,000 of them to displaced families – many of them living in camps.Exclusive breastfeeding provides the very best start to a baby’s life and costs families nothing. The policy of distributing infant formula free to all infants as part of Iraq’s Public Distribution System (PDS) for food rationscould be, Wright said,a “recipe for disasterin current conditions”, particularly if prepared with unsafe water.

“Dehydration resulting from diarrhoeacaused by contaminated water and poor sanitation is already Iraq’s biggest killer of young children,” he said. “In an unhygienic environment worsened by displacement and violence, exclusive breastfeeding is the best protection that can be given to Iraqi babies.”

He stressed that newborns of displaced mothers living in temporary shelters or abandoned buildings are at particularly high risk from diarrhoea. In Najaf Governorate, where up to 50,000 displaced people are being accommodated, many of them in temporary camps, diarrhoea rates are twice the seasonal average.Unsafe water and poor sanitation is to blame for almost 90 per cent of Iraq’s diarrhoea cases.

Dr. Nidhal, Manager of the Breastfeeding Programme for Iraq’s Ministry of Health, noted that Iraq’s rate of exclusive breastfeeding was worryingly low, at just 25 per centfor infants under six months. The free distribution of infant formula through the PDSis a negative factor in contributing to these low rates, discouragingthe traditional and much better exclusive breastfeeding.

“Breast milk is the best possible nourishment for children and contains everything they need to be healthy for the first six months,” she said. “It protects against diarrhoea from contaminated water, and also provides vital antibodies against pneumonia and other illnesses that could affect many Iraqi children during infancy. Mothers must not risk any other food or additional water for their young babies.”

She urged new mothers, particularly those in camps, to follow the global guidelines for feeding infants and young children: exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months, and then continued breastfeeding with appropriate complementary foods until two years old.

She stressed that breastfeeding should start within the first hour of lifeto give the maximum possible benefit to babies and stimulate the production of breast milk. This act alone has the potential to prevent 16 per cent of newborn deaths – a key theme of the 2007 World Breastfeeding Week, celebrated during the first week of August.

Roger Wright called on Iraq’s government to reinforce national compliance with the International Code on Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes. He also urged Iraq’s communities to give new mothers special care and support to help them breastfeed successfully. “Exclusive breastfeeding is the single most powerful means ofprotectingthe health of Iraqi babies during this time of crisis,” he said.

For further information please contact

Claire Hajaj, UNICEF Iraq, +962 7969 26190,

Ban Dhayi, UNICEF Iraq, +962 7965 05008,