UN to PHL public, private employers: set up breastfeeding centers at workplace

The United Nations has called on public and private sector employers in the Philippines to set up breastfeeding centers at workplaces. This was done in order to increase the productivity of their female workers and improve child health care system in the country.

The International Labor Organization (ILO), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) raised concerns over the lack of physical space in most public and private workplaces for their breastfeeding female employees.

World Breastfeeding Week

The three UN agencies will be participating in World Breastfeeding Week, which aims to raise awareness among employers in supporting the global campaign on breastfeeding. It is celebrated from August 1-7.

Women's participation in wage employment has increased over the last few years, according to Director Lawrence Jeff Johnson of the ILO-Philippines.

He added that more and more female workers find it difficult to balance work and family due to being trapped in a vulnerable form of employment.

"The benefits of exclusive breastfeeding to a baby, especially in the first six months, are irreplaceable. The positive effects for working women and the workplace itself in terms of productivity, staff continuity and loyalty, reduced absenteeism, lower healthcare, and training costs are equally rewarding,” said Johnson in a statement made Friday.

"Fear[ing] losing their only source of income, working women find it hard to continue exclusive breastfeeding even just until their babies reach six months; some are forced to give up exclusive breastfeeding altogether," he added.

The Law of Milk

In 1986, the Philippines passed the National Milk Code, a law promoting breastfeeding and discouraging mothers from giving milk formula to their newborn babies.

The law was revised in 2010; added was a provision requiring private and public establishments to set up breastfeeding stations.

Dr. Julie Hall, the WHO's Representative to the Philippines, lauded the National Milk Code but pointed out the urgent need for resources and partnerships to ensure its full implementation in workplaces and communities.

Dr. Abdul Alim, UNICEF's Representative to the Philippines, explained that breastmilk also enhances optimal brain development, promotes maternal and infant bonding, and contains immune properties that prevent diseases in young children and babies.

"UNICEF upholds and advocates breastfeeding as a cost-effective strategy for survival, growth, development, and protection of infants and young children from birth up to two years,” said Dr. Alim.

Philippine government statistics showed that the nutrition status of children under the age of 5 has not improved in the last 10 years. — VC, GMA News