National Breastfeeding Awareness Month observed in Baguio

August 28, 2018 Community Billboard

The National Breastfeeding Awareness Month is observed annually during the month of August to help instill public awareness about the importance and benefits of breastfeeding and to further promote it throughout the country.
This year’s theme is “Pagpapasuso’y pundasyon para sa malusog at mahabang buhay ng ina at sanggol”.
Dr. Renelyn P. Ignacio, Medical Specialist II at the Department of Pediatrics in BGHMC, talked about the DOH Cordillera’s programs in celebration of the World Breastfeeding Week, National Breastfeeding Awareness Month, and Mother-Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative Week during the Kapihan forum last Tuesday, August 14, at the Cancer Institute Building, Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center.
Ignacio said that the Cordillera region has one of the highest breastfeeding rates in the country with an average of 49%. However, the 2017 statistics report from the World Health Organization (WHO) shows that the overall breastfeeding rate in the Philippines is only 34%, which is still quite low. It is a challenge to the WHO, UNICEF, government agencies and hospitals to increase this rate; hence, they are constantly developing ideas and initiating programs to increase the advocacy on breastfeeding.
According to Dr. Ignacio, it is very important that breastfeeding should start immediately after birth. In the Cordillera region, most hospitals are practicing the Essential IntraPartum and Newborn Care (EINC) – a set of evidence-based practices recommended by the WHO, PhilHealth and Department of Health. The EINC consists of four basic procedures that must be followed chronologically; immediate drying, skin-to-skin contact, proper cord clumping and cutting, and non-separation of baby from mother and breastfeeding initiation.
The Mother- Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative, on the other hand, is an accreditation for hospitals launched by the WHO and UNICEF in 1990 to encourage hospitals to follow a set of practices which will help mothers initiate breastfeeding to their newborn especially right after rooming-in. The hospitals should meet the 10 standards or criteria which were set by the organization to promote and support successful breastfeeding before receiving an accreditation certificate from the Department of Health.
In the city of Baguio, the first lactation clinic called Lactation Spa and Clinic of the North was launched and actively run by NGOs to assist mothers in breastfeeding. Also, the Baguio General Hospital Pediatric Neonatal Care Unit is offering consultations and offer demonstrations on how to properly breastfeed babies. DOH-CAR Press Release / ABN