Barcelona jacket the importance of collaborative interventions.

Nine policies focusing on breastfeeding, either directly or as a component of the global Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) strategy, were formulated between 2007 and 2012, yet Pakistan continues to have undesirably low breastfeeding and undesirably high bottle feeding rates when compared to any other country in South Asia. There have been no signs Barcelona jersey 2015 of improvement whatsoever, so much so that even the preliminary results of the sub-analysis of the Demographic Health Survey (DHS) 2012-13 present a worrying picture. Where is Pakistan going wrong?

An answer to this query was offered Friday by Professor Dr. Tabish Hazir, head of pediatric medicine at Children’s Hospital, PIMS. Addressing an advocacy seminar organised by the Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health Research Network and the South Asian Infant Feeding Research Network (SAIFRN) Pakistan, in collaboration with Unicef, Dr. Tabish termed lack of ownership and multi-sectoral collaboration, ineffective advocacy, week component of behaviour change communication and lack of information on how objectives are to be met as some of the key challenges.

Dr. Tabish was convinced that issues of sustainability also forestall progress as most of the programmes are donor-funded. “We also have issues of duplication and absence of a clear onus of responsibility for implementation,” he pointed out.

Sharing the preliminary results of the Real Madrid jersey 2015 sub-analysis of DHS 2012-13, Dr. Tabish informed that exclusive breastfeeding rates are lowest amongst educated women belonging to upper socio economic strata. He said, bottle feeding rates are highest amongst working women, upper social strata, urban residence and women seeking care with health professionals.

Dr. Tabish highlighted that a majority of neonatal deaths in Pakistan is due to preventable causes and that even though cost-effective interventions are available and have shown to be effective in reducing neonatal mortality rates, they have not been implemented effectively enough in communities.

The paediatrician stressed that Pakistan’s undesirably low exclusive breastfeeding rates need to be improved, and that legislation ordinance on breastfeeding and marketing code should be strictly implemented.

Dr. Tabish also recommended that healthcare providers at all levels be targeted for improved breastfeeding counselling skills. He said, the undergraduate curriculum should be revised with greater emphasis on good IYCF practices including exclusive breastfeeding.

Despite high cultural acceptance for breastfeeding in Pakistan, the practice declines rapidly Authentic Barcelona jersey with age. There is a need to evolve behaviour change strategies to discourage this trend. “A multi-sectoral integrated approach to IYCF communication from pregnancy to early infancy is required. Women from all education and SES levels need IYCF counselling, specially working women from higher socio-economic strata living in urban areas,” Dr. Tabish pointed out. To inch forward, it is crucial for IYCF programmes to have complete sense of ownership from all local stakeholders including academia, researchers and public health professionals and programmes.

Saeed Qadir, Unicef’s nutrition officer presented an overview of what UNICEF has been doing in this regard. With respect to future plans, he said the development of national infant and young child feeding guidelines is in the agenda.

Technical director from the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations, and Coordinator Dr. Baseer Achakzai concluded the session by highlighting Barcelona jacket the importance of collaborative interventions.

World Breastfeeding Week is globally observed from August 1-7 but had to be delayed in Pakistan because of the unstable political situation. This year’s theme ‘Breastfeeding: A winning goal –for Life’ responds to the current Millennium Development Goal countdown process by asserting the importance of increasing and sustaining the protection, promotion and support of breastfeeding in the post-2015 development agenda.

However, as far as Pakistan is concerned, it conscientiously observes the Week every year, and that is about all. Year after year, a harrowing picture of where the country stands vis-à-vis major breastfeeding indicators is shared with the media. And unfortunately, the picture is only getting bleaker with every passing year.

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