LLLI Center for Breastfeeding Information

Journal Abstract and Review of the Month for July 2006

"State of the World's Mothers 2006: Saving the Lives of Mothers and Newborns"

Author: Save the Children, 2006

Abstract:

Save the Children, recipient of a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, has prepared a report discussing the health needs of mothers throughout the world. Primary to the report is the assertion that all mothers deserve the chance to achieve a healthy pregnancy, a safe childbirth, and a living child. Unfortunately, for far too many of the world's women, these simple wishes are completely beyond their grasp.

The goal of Save the Children is to ameliorate the situations thatlead to cycles of premature birth, low birth weight, stunted growth, and/or premature infant death. Key to this goal is the improvement of prenatal and postnatal care, including the increased presence of trained health care workers attending each birth; education, both specific to the needs of newborns and general, in the knowledge that better-educated women are more likely to delay childbearing until they have reached physical maturity and are also more likely to space their children farther apart; and the encouragement of exclusive breastfeeding, beginning in the first hour after birth and continuing for at least 6 months, with complementary breastfeeding continuing for at least 2 years. Cultural beliefs that may impede the acceptance of modern health and hygiene practices must be handled sensitively and respectfully.

Save the Children backs up their recommendations with statistical data that show how instigating simple practices such as those outlined above can benefit both the mothers and infants directly, as well as the country as a whole, with relatively little cost when compared to the loss of productivity that accompanies a high infant mortality rate, loss of female workforce through death in childbirth, and the self-perpetuating cycle of poverty supported by too many children and not enough resources. Breastfeeding is certainly one of the most cost-effective and most easily implemented practices than can build a positive framework for change.

This paper is categorized by the following keywords:

Developing Countries
Exclusive Breastfeeding
Cultural Influences
Initiation
Kangaroo Care
Malnutrition
NutritionInfant
NutritionMaternal
Promotion
Teen Mothers

The complete "State of the World's Mothers 2006" report can be found at
http://www.savethechildren.org/publications/SOWM_2006_final.pdf

For additional information on Save the Children, go to
http://www.savethechildren.org/mothers/sowm-report-2006/index.asp?stationpub=x_e74_sm10

Additional information on the challenges to breastfeeding faced by mothers in developing countries can be found on the LLLI website at
http://www.lalecheleague.org/llleaderweb/LV/LVFebMar06p14.html
http://www.lalecheleague.org/llleaderweb/LV/LVJunJul05p70.html
http://www.lalecheleague.org/Release/BeijingStatement.html