Mass Breastfeeding Event Held in Philippines to Raise Awareness About Infant Deaths

On August 5, 2018, hundreds of Filipino women came out into the street to nurse their babies in public. The mass breastfeeding event has been backed by the Filipino government and has been celebrated annually to raise awareness about the importance of breastfeeding and infant deaths. More than 1,500 women thronged a Manila stadium with their children. According to Agence France-Presse (AFP), moms wearing tiaras and superhero t-shirts sat on the floor and fed their babies. Rose Padua, the organiser of the event, told AFP that the event is observed for government support to encourage more women to breastfeed instead of giving formula milk to children.

Here are pictures from the events:

These moms are waging a battle against formula milk, which has been used as a breast milk replacement. “It’s an empowering movement. It was very difficult to establish a milk supply at first,” told first-time mother Joyce Balido, 29 to. “I am sleep-starved, but I committed myself to have my daughter exclusively breastfed.”

Increasing number of women worldwide are opting for formula milk instead of nutritious breast milk, due to ignorance.  Infants are deprived of breast milk, which is considered the infant’s first vaccination against deadly diseases.

This important fact notwithstanding, the statistics about breastfeeding is not very comforting. According to WHO, only 40 percent of infants under the age of six months are exclusively breastfed. Had more children been given this life-saving elixir, more infant deaths could be prevented. Thankfully, government intervention has been helping in dispelling parental ignorance and has improved breastfeeding the statistics in many parts of the world.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 06, 2018 05:04 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).