Tony John, Port Harcourt
Wife of the Rivers State governor, Justice Eberechi Suzzette Nyesom-Wike, has charged Nigerians to join the campaign in promoting exclusive breast-feeding for strong and healthy children.
Justice Nyesom-Wike also tasked local government areas chairmen in the state, to make budgetary allocation for the sensitization of women on the importance of breast-feeding their children for six months.
She made the calls at the weekend, during the launch of a new campaign ‘Breast Feeding Collective’.
The programme was put together by the State Ministry of Health and Rivers State Primary Health Care Management Board in collaboration with the United Nations International Children’s Fund (UNICEF); Ministry of Women Affairs and State Committee on Food and Nutrition.
The governor’s wife stressed the need for greater investment in exclusive breast feeding campaign, calling for more seminars, advocacies, and workshops to educate women on the dangers of ignoring the call.
She said: “Everybody’s hands need to be on deck, to produce an optimal health result for the children and reduce mortality rate. The Commissioner for Health should come up with a policy that for breast feeding sessions in our public hospitals”.
Justice Nyesom-Wike wondered why the state could not produce a good result on exclusive breast-feeding record and appealed to traditional rulers and other community leaders to take the campaign to the grassroots.
Earlier in his address, the State Commissioner for Health, Prof Princewill Chike, said “breast feeding is a significant exercise with healthiest start for a child in life”
He commended Governor Nyesom Wike for finding the initiative expedient, by continually supporting policies promoting effective breast feeding in the State.
Also, UNICEF representative, Wilboard Ngambi, noted that the launch of the ‘Breast Feeding Collective’ in Rivers, was the manifestation of the commitment of the state government to improve the health conditions of the members of the public.