Zamfara inaugurates committee on breast milk substitutes

To ensure compliance with the International Breast Milk Substitute Code, the Zamfara State Government has inaugurated a 13-member monitoring committee made up of relevant stakeholders in the health sector.

The state commissioner of Health, Alhaji Suleman Adamu Gummi, during the inauguration in Gusau, said the code serves as a means to protect breastfeeding mothers from aggressive promotional campaigns by Infant Food Manufacturers (IFM), which was linked to the alarming decline in breastfeeding in Nigeria, and Zamfara State in particular, coupled with increase in rates of infant morbidity and mortality.

According to him, “The Code, therefore, controls and restricts the many promotional practices such as advertising, free samples, free supplies and gifts, used by IFM to increase sales of infant foods, feeding bottles and teats, thereby undermining breastfeeding.”

Represented by the permanent secretary of the ministry, Dr. Lawal Umar Bungudu, he maintained that the inauguration of the committee was also in fulfillment of the Federal Government’s commitment as a signatory to the Code, charging committee members to work assiduously in educating the general public on the implementation of health facility-related aspects of the code in their respective communities.

He appealed to health workers in the state to provide necessary skilled support and help mothers and families on exclusive and continued breastfeeding and complementary feeding.