Breastfeeding The Best Investment
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- Title
- Breastfeeding The Best Investment
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SDA-RF-CH-1.33
hroughout the world, families, communities and
natinons
seek
to promote
the health
and
throughand
lack
of funds
for
foods,
water,
preventive
andnutritious
curative
health clean
care.
welfare offactors
their children.
Unfortunately,
economic
often hinder
these efforts
Breastfeeding requires very little invesetment and has a
tremendous payback for families, employers, communities,
health care insititutions and governments.
T
World Breatsfceding Week 1998 aims to initiate actions to
protect, promote and support breastfeeding as one of the best
investments in the health of a nation. This year's goals are to :
/ Raise public awareness on the economic-value of
breastfeeding and the high cost of bottle feeding.
Z Provide concrete data on the economic advantages of
*
breastfeeding for public advocacy.
Help governments to appreciate the full economic value
of breastfeedng and recognise the need to include
support for breastfeeding promotion programmes in the
national health budget.
/
The Economic Benefits of
Breastfeeding
Breastfeeding can bring economic benefits to many levels of
society :
For House Holds
Savings on the unnecessary purchase of breastmilk
substitutes and feeding equipment
Savings on medical care through fewer trips to a
physician or hospital for a sick child, medications and
time caring for a sick child
Saving on time in preparation for bottle feeding such
as to fetch water, fuel and cleaning utensils
Savings on cost of birth control methods and
menstruation supplies.
Time savings on workdays lost in caring for a sick
children
For Employers
Savings from greater productivity, more loyalty and
less absenteeism among workers with young infants.
For Nations
Z
v
WABA '98
World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action
Saving, often in foreign exchange, on the purchase
and distribution of commercial breastmilk substitutes.
Savings on health care for preventable acute and
chronic illnesses.
Savings in ecological damage avoided by reduced
production, 'distribution and disposal of breastmilk
substitutes and containers.
Cost of Breastfeeding
J Costs in extra food for the mother
Costs to provide working mothers with adequate maternity entitlements such as paid leave and child carefacilities at
✓✓
workplace
Cost to provide breastfeeding education and sustain voluntary breastfeeding organisation such as mother to mother
support groups
Cost of Artificial feeding
Artificial feeding (refers to feeding infants with breastmilk substitutes) costs billions of doolars to institutions, nations,
governments, health care organizations and families.
Health Care
Artificial feeding in the infant's first year is associated with :
J
More diarrhoea than in breastfed infants
J
More respiratory infections
J
More chronic digestive disorders and dental / orthodontic problems
J
More learning difficulties and delayed development
J
More hospitalization
J
In many countries, malnutrition and increased death rates from diluted formula, unsafe water and poor hygiene.
Households
Families pay for infant formula and other breastmilk substitues, feeding and sterilizing equipment, fuel, and for health care
associated and diarrhoea and other illnesses.
Formula also takes time to purchase, to prepare and to administer. In many rural areas it takes hours every day to collect
water (a three month old infant needs overthreelitersofwater a day for mixing and boiling) and wood (it takes 200 grams of wood
to boil this water) (2)
Simply calculating the cost of breastmilk sustitutes to families and multiplying by number of
births per year does not reflect the total cost of "lost breastfeeding’ to a nation but can be a
useful conservative policy tool.
Exclusive Breastfeeding
For the first six months, infants should be exclusively breastfed when babies gain weight normally. Solids should not be
introduced before six months (6), as they only replace breastmilk and do not lead to better growth (7).
Premature supplementation is often advised by health workers who are unaware that breastfed infants grow differently than the
largely bottlefed ones upon whom today's growth charts are based (8).,
When exclusive breastfeeding is ended too early
J
The supplement usually just replaces breastmilk with something of lower nutritional value
J
Unnecessary contamination and infection occur at a younger and more vulnerable age
J
This can lead to malnutrition and even death
J
The child's intellectual developmental may be compromised
conlracePl>ve effect of breastfeeding is reduced and closer child spacing increases the risk of low
birth weight
There is a loss of oxytocin, a calming hormone.
Early Supplementation leads to commercial dependence
Baby food companies and the scientists whose work they fund encourage early supplementation, they know that this often
results in dependence on costly commercial baby foods.
Recognizing this, the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN), and other concerned organizations are monitoring baby
food promotion for violations of the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes, as
well as for false claims by manufacturers.
Many women do not know that their milk is 'alive' and of much better quality than breastmilk susbstitutes, and have
instead been tricked into believing that formula is as good or better than their own breastmilk.
The commonest reason women give for not breastfeeding is they do not have enough milk-and that their milk
"dreid up". Acutually, the 'insufficient milk syndrome' and 'drying up' can be overcome by frequent feeds and maternal confidence
inher ability to feed her baby.
Often misled by the baby foods industry and poorly trained
health worker's messages promoting mixed feeding, women's faith in their ability to breastfeed is undermined.
Economic Studies
Breastfeeding, one of women's unique
than any economic value assigned to it.
contributions
to
society,
is
worth far more
Breastfeeding is "priceless." Advocacy of exclusive breastfeeding requries an appreciation of its full importance by all of society.
Economic measurements cannot put a value on any expression of love or altruism. Most women view breastfeeding with pride.
However, placing human milk on food balance sheets could increase its perceived value (9). Seeing the real size of this
contribution in terms of the food supply to a nation is impressive and demonstrates to responsible policy
makers the importance of this activity in terms that they can more easily relate to.
Breastfeeding promotion, leads to health care savings
y
*
For each baby breastfed for six months, the US government can save $450-$800 in welfare and health care
costs (12).
Z
Illness attributable to artifical feeding in the USA costs $291 million / year for infant diarrhoea; $225 million for
respiratory suncytial virus; $660 million for otitis media, and $10-125 million for insuline dependent diabets
mellitus(IDDM)(13).
z
If the prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding up to three months of age increased from 60-80% in Australia,
A$11.5 million would be saved on health care costs for otitis media, IDDM, gastrointestinal disease,
and eczema alone (14).
Z
*
In India, if exclusive breastfeeding prevented only one episode of diarrhea per child per year, the money saved
would exceed the national budget for child health. Lactation amenorrhea is by far the top contraceptive in the
country; the value of this to the national family planning programme is equal to nearly half its budget (15).
Z
*
Unfortunately, many countries provide free or subsidized milk powder to families with infants and this
contributes to low breastfeeding rates. The US Women's Infants and Children (WIC) program spends twice
as much per mother for infant formula as it does for the food given to women who breastfeed (13).
’
Ideas for Action
• Calculate the cost of breastmilk substitutes in your country and how much food that would buy for the family.
A baby needs nearly 22kg of infant formula for the first six months or 2.5kg in the first month, 3.2kg the second
month, and 4kg per month after that. Find the cost per kg of a locally popular brand of infant formula and you
can use these figures to calculate the total cost for six months of artificial feeding. But remember that there are
many other costs!
• As a rough rule of thumb, the health care costs may be twice as high as the cost of substitutes for that period.
This will allow you to more closely estimate the cost of artifical feeding of babies to a family and to the nation.
• Organize community group discussions and presentations on the cost of
formula feeding.
• Talk with your boss about the economic benefits of estabilishing a breastfeeding program at your workplace.
Ask for WABA's flyer Steps Toward a Mother-Friendly Workplace or get it from the WABA website.
• Find ways through TV and newspapers to give recognition to workplaces that encourage breastfeeding, such
as giving a mother-friendly workplace award.
• Give a copy of this folder to the people in government responsible for establishing maternity protection laws,
labour regulations and health programs.
• Organize community group discussions and presentations on the cost of formula feedings.
• Offer to talk at schools, women's groups, business groups etc. about the real cost of not breastfeeding.
• Help people recognize that breastfeeding is a valuable natural resource to the country. Calculate the cost of
artificial feeding for one year for one infant, multiply .it by the number of births, and then compare it with the per
captia GNP.
e Write to your governmental representatives at local and national levels mentioning WBW and urge them to
promote breastfeeding in government offices and improve the support availabe for breastfeeding woman on
their staff.
e Suggest ways to cut costs and increase savings in hospitals, health facilities, family planning programmes, and
for families by promoting breastfeeding.
• Urge health professionals to influnce economists, statisticians and those involved in drawing up health and food
statistic to include human milk in their calculations of food supply, availability of food and nutrients and the
eoconomic value of food.
• Show how hospital costs can be reduced when breastfeeding increases. They realize savings in purchase of IV
fluids, breastmilk substitutes, bottles, staff nursing time, reduce hospital days for premature and newborns andmedication.
• In advocacy, first, action, should be urged on the basis of breastfeeding as a woman's right; then breastfeeding
promoting actions should be encouraged by showing their economic benefits and how easily they pay for
themselves by reducing costs for imported infant foods and for health care.
Breastfeeding is worth more than its cost saving
While ecomonic data may be useful in certain setting for creating awareness of the importance of breastfeeding among
policy makers, WABA cautions that ecomonic calculations understimate the larger value of breastfeeding. Its economic
value is only a fraction of its human welfare value. Breastfeeding also guarantees the baby skin-to skin contact, attention
from mother and other caring attributes which promote 'bonding'. Bottlefeeding does not guarantee any of these.
Furthemore, discussions on breastmilk production and its food value should be handled deliciately so as not to 'offend'
some women-with the comparison to cows.
Policy makers should be made aware of the importance of exclusive breastfeeding, the need to make mother support
available, to provide extra support for working women, and to have a system for the regulation of the baby food industry
so breastfeeding is not undermined.
This year's Action Folder provides information on the ecomonic value of breastfeeding and serves as an advocacy tool
to value the economic benefits of breastfeeding. WABA emphasize that cost savings is not the only nor the major benefit
of breastfeeding.
Indeed, mothers and babies have a right to breastfeed. Women should not be made to choose between mother work and
other work. It is in society's interest to fund breastfeeding promotion and support programmes and to consider breastfeeding
time as work time for mothers in paid jobs, or even to pay women to breastfeed. In Quebec, Canada, since 1995 there is a
programme which pays mothers receiving public assistance who 'opt' to breastfeed.
Mothers who breastfeed should also be protected from advertising and promotion of breastmilk substitutes, as specified
in the International Code of Marketing of BreastMilk Substitutes.
Mothers have a right to breastfeed and babies a right to breastmilk. Success in breastfeeding should not be luxury only
afforded by the resourceful, the rich or the lucky.
SOURCE - WABA, Courtsey - UNICEF
Printed by
Voluntary Health Association of Karnataka, Bangalore.
- Media
SDA-RF-CH-1.33.pdf
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