Havana, August 4, 2022.- The Office in Cuba of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP) celebrate, from August 1 to 7, the World Breastfeeding Week, which this year has as its motto: “Let’s promote breastfeeding, supporting and educating”.
Within the framework of this day, UNICEF accompanied MINSAP in the workshop “Nutrition: Breastfeeding and Human Milk Banks, context and impact of COVID-19”, which brought together specialists from Human Milk Banks, pediatricians and neonatologists, from all the provinces of the country and the special municipality of Isla de la Juventud.
During her inaugural conference, Dr. Odalys Rodríguez Martínez, Program Officer “Every child survives and thrives”, of UNICEF Cuba, expressed that, in a world impacted by COVID-19, governments, health systems, workplaces and communities must be informed, educated and empowered, to strengthen their capacities to provide and sustain breastfeeding-friendly environments for families in the post-pandemic world.
In her presentation, Dr. Rodríguez shared the main results of the 2019 MICS Survey. The study showed that, in Cuba, exclusive breastfeeding before six months of age behaved in 40.9%, below 50% minimum established as positive by the World Health Organization (WHO).
In addition, the MICS Survey found that:
- Early initiation of breastfeeding (on the first day of birth): 92.5%
- Percentage of children who were breastfed for the first time during the first hour: 64.1%
- Predominant breastfeeding before 6 months: 54.3%
- Continuous breastfeeding until the 1st year of age: 35.3%
- Continuous breastfeeding up to 2 years of age: 19.2%
- Age-appropriate breastfeeding (percentage of children 0-23 months fed appropriately the day before): 34.9%
- Bottle-feeding (percentage of children aged 0-23 months who were bottle-fed during the previous day): 72.2%
To improve these indicators, UNICEF Cuba executes different actions, aimed at strengthening technical and institutional capacities through:
- Support for the creation and start-up of the Human Milk Bank service.
- Promotion, encouragement and protection of the practice of breastfeeding through information, communication and education actions through different channels, including digital platforms.
- Revitalization of the Mother and Child Friendly Hospital Initiative.
- Support for the quality of the childcare consultation.
- Support for studies on the nutritional status of pregnant women, children and adolescents.
Dr. Rodríguez stated that it is important to advocate for greater support for lactating mothers (families, work and health centers, and communities), to help extend the duration of breastfeeding. It is also vital to strengthen capacities on the timely introduction of food in the diet of girls and boys, starting at six months of age, while it is essential to continue educational work with health professionals, families and communities around the Food Guides for pregnant and lactating mothers, and the Food Guides for Cuban girls and boys up to two years of age.
Dr. Pablo Roque Peña, head of the MINSAP Breastfeeding Commission and Human Milk Bank, warned in his inaugural conference on the Code of Breastmilk Substitutes about the deficit of a breastfeeding culture in Cuba, both in the mother, family and community, as well as health personnel.
Among other risk factors and barriers to the implementation of breastfeeding in Cuba, Dr. Roque pointed out the decrease in the teaching of breastfeeding in health professionals.
On the second day of the Workshop, Dr. María Cecilia Santana presented a summary of the field visits that are part of the Human Milk Bank Evaluation process, carried out by a group of external evaluators from the National School of Health (ENSAP). ).
In addition, Dr. Roque shared the most important results obtained by the 14 Human Milk Banks that operate in Cuba and their impact on infant morbidity and mortality. At another point in the session, Dr. Osiris Intento Gracias showed a study on how to address the feeding and nutrition of very low birth weight newborns.