First run for breastfeeding held

Breastfeeding advocates gathered at the SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City on February 4, 2012 to support the “Run to save lives! Run for breastfeeding!” campaign. 

 

The 5K run and 2K walk event aimed to raise awareness on and gather advocates for the promotion of exclusive breastfeeding for children 0-6 months old and proper infant and young child feeding practices.

 

“Breastfeeding can save the life of a child. Breastfeeding is right or tama. It is right for the health of a child,” United Nations Resident Coordinator Dr. Jacqueline Badcock said. “Breastfeeding is sufficient or sapat – there is no other food that could replace the nutrients of a mother’s milk. Breastfeeding (also) needs to be exclusive.”

 

The first 1,000 days (from pregnancy to two years of life) are the critical period for a child’s growth and development. The World Health Organization and UNICEF recommend that infants should be exclusively breastfed from birth to 6 months of age, and that complementary foods should be introduced at 6 months of age. 

 

However, the 2008 National Demographic and Health Survey results showed that only 34 percent of infants less than six months were exclusively breastfed. In addition, the duration of exclusive breastfeeding is only less than a month. The same survey showed that infants less than six months were already given complementary foods.

 

“This is the first time that we had a running campaign that focuses on breastfeeding. More than 1,000 participants who are also advocates of breastfeeding joined this historic event,” said Assistant Secretary Maria-Bernardita Flores, Executive Director of the National Nutrition Council. 

 

Assistant Secretary Flores added that “Breastfeeding is the best anti-poverty and anti-hunger strategy which is why it is so important for mothers to breastfeed.”

 

The campaign is organized under the Millennium Development Goals Achievement Fund (MDG-F) by the National Nutrition Council of the Department of Health and its UN partners –Food and Agriculture Organization, International Labor Organization, UNICEF, World Food Programme, World Health Organization, and in partnership with SM Cares Foundation, SM Breastfeeding Program, Bikram Yoga Alabang, Takbo.ph and Runner’s Circle. Press release from MDGF-2030