Media Release
Breastfeeding: A Community Responsibility to be Theme for World Breastfeeding Week
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
SCHAUMBURG, IL (August 1,
1996) - The fifth annual World Breastfeeding Week will be celebrated
from August 1-7, 1996 with the theme Breastfeeding: A Community Responsibility,
by La Leche League International (LLLI) and the World Alliance for Breastfeeding
Action (WABA).
World Breastfeeding Week
is part of WABA's ongoing campaign to increase public awareness of the
importance of breastfeeding. La Leche League is a founding member of
WABA's global alliance of health care providers, non-governmental organizations
and mother support groups. This year's goals include educating all sectors
of the community to create a supportive breastfeeding environment. Families,
schools, employers, the media, governments, stores and eating places
are all encouraged to remove barriers to breastfeeding.
August 1 marks the sixth
anniversary of the signing of the Innocenti Declaration on the Protection,
Promotion and Support of Breastfeeding which was adopted in 1990 by
32 governments and 10 United Nations Agencies. The Innocenti Declaration
recognizes the importance of breastfeeding to infant and maternal health,
as well as the social and economic benefits it provides to the family
and society. The Declaration states:
As a global goal
for optimal maternal and child health and nutrition, all women should
be enabled to practice exclusive breastfeeding and all infants should
be fed exclusively on breast milk from birth to four to six months of
age. Thereafter, children should continue to breastfeed while receiving
appropriate and adequate complementary foods for up to two years of
age or beyond. This child feeding ideal is to be achieved by creating
an appropriate environment of awareness and support so that women can
benefit in this manner.
La Leche League International
is a nonprofit organization that provides breastfeeding information
and encouragement through mother-to-mother support groups and interaction
with parents, physicians, researchers and health care providers. The
organization reaches over 100,000 women monthly in 60 countries.
Page last edited Sun Oct 14 09:32:36 UTC 2007.
