This document has been forwarded from the ReliefWeb site.
Sender: Sjamsir Sjarif ([email protected])
Comment from Sjamsir Sjarif:
Menyusukan Bayi dengan Air Susu Ibu sangat penting dalam kedaan darurat.
Pentingnya masalah ini baik disampaikan kepada masyarakat, istimewa kepada
ibu-ibu yang punya bayi di dalam bencana Masa Gempa yang diderita sekarang.
Juga untuk pegangan di waktu kritis yang tidak diharapkan di masa depan.
Perhatikanlah laporan di bawah ini.
Sa;am,
--MakNgah
Sjamsir Sjarif
Source: Integrated Regional Information Networks
Date: 13 Nov 2009
BANGKOK, 13 November 2009 (IRIN) - A recent spate of natural disasters in
Asia has further underscored the importance
of breastfeeding during emergencies, with a
need for additional policies to support
this.
Hundreds of thousands were displaced and
forced into evacuation shelters following a
series of deadly typhoons in the
Philippines, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos,
and an earthquake in Indonesia in the past
two months.
But according to experts, during such
disasters, support for mothers to
breastfeed is often overlooked and not
given the priority it needs, despite its
life-saving function.
Besides raising awareness of the importance
of breastfeeding, aid organizations need to
have policies on infant feeding, they say.
"You have to have a strong policy in place,
and make sure all the actors and all the
staff in that organization know about this
policy," Anna Winoto, a nutrition
specialist with the UN Children's Fund
(UNICEF) in Indonesia, told IRIN.
In emergency situations, poor water and
sanitation and security situations
contribute to a heightened risk of disease
among children, who are vulnerable to
diarrhoea, malnutrition and pneumonia.
Practices such as using infant formula
milk, when water may be contaminated and
feeding bottles cannot be sterilized,
contributes to the risk and has been shown
to lead to an increase in diarrhoeal
disease in infants.
"Breastfeeding is actually even more
crucial under emergency conditions because
children under five, and infants in
particular, are at an increased risk of
infection, disease and malnutrition,"
Winoto said.
"Breastfeeding should be seen as a
life-saving intervention," she said.
In an emergency situation, establishing
private spaces for mothers and infants,
one-to-one counselling and mother-to-mother
support is needed to encourage
breastfeeding, say UNICEF and the World
Health Organization (WHO).
"As part of emergency preparedness,
hospitals and other healthcare services
should have trained health workers who can
help mothers establish breastfeeding and
overcome difficulties," said WHO
Director-General Margaret Chan in a
statement to mark World Breastfeeding Week
in August.
Both UNICEF and WHO advocate exclusive
breastfeeding for children up to six months
of age, and continued breastfeeding and
complementary feeding until age two.
Dangerous donations
But one obstacle to breastfeeding during
emergencies is unsolicited or uncontrolled
donations of breast-milk substitutes, which
undermine breastfeeding, according to
UNICEF and WHO.
Following a 7.9 magnitude earthquake in
West Sumatra on 30 September, UNICEF
Indonesia, worked with the country's Health
Ministry, and contacted local and national
radio stations to broadcast requests to
stop milk-substitute donations.
"It's a huge problem, and the problem lies
in the lack of knowledge among the donors
on the potential harm," said Winoto.
Meanwhile, coordination in emergencies also
remains a challenge, with little capacity
to locate only those children who truly
need infant formula and not disrupt
breastfeeding practices, she said.
"In our experience, it's gotten better but
it's still a huge challenge because there
are so many actors when an emergency comes,
and so many donations," she said.
Helping with trauma
Besides the health benefits, breastfeeding
advocates underline the psycho-social
benefit of maintaining the activity during
an emergency, which is traumatic for babies
and young children, experts say.
"In an emergency, keeping the baby on the
breast is not only about nutrition, it is
giving the child that security and
closeness when it is scared," Elvira
Henares-Esguerra, director of the
Philippine NGO Children for Breastfeeding,
told IRIN.
In the aftermath of Typhoon Ketsana, which
caused massive flooding in the Philippines
in September, Henares-Esguerra and a
handful of breastfeeding mothers with their
children visited an evacuation centre.
They demonstrated breastfeeding practices,
and encouraged displaced mothers to do the
same.
"We discovered that infant formula was
being given out by the government at
evacuation centres," said Henares-Esguerra.
"We wanted to encourage the mothers to
breastfeed," she said.
ey/ds/cb[END]
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