PHILIPPINES-BREASTFEEDING Hundreds join World Breastfeeding Week in Manila

Record ID: 145504

  • Title: PHILIPPINES-BREASTFEEDING Hundreds join World Breastfeeding Week in Manila
  • Date: 1st August 2015
  • Summary: MANILA, PHILIPPINES (AUGUST 1, 2015) (REUTERS) ****WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** WOMEN SITTING DOWN WHILE CARRYING INFANTS WOMEN PREPARING TO BREASTFEED THEIR INFANTS AS COUNTDOWN STARTS CHILD BEING BREASTFED WOMEN BREASTFEEDING INFANTS WHILE RAISING HANDS (SOUNDBITE)(English) BREASTFEEDING PINAYS CAMPAIGNER CHERYL CHAN SAYING: "I joined this breastfeeding campaign
  • Embargoed: 16th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Philippines
  • Country: Philippines
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAT9E9N3M0I2G2RP0Z944J9T2P
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Over 300 women launched World Breastfeeding Week in Manila on Saturday (August 1) by participating in a mass breastfeeding event.
    The women joined in an event called, 'The Big Latch On', which is part of World Breastfeeding Week, where women nursed their babies for over a minute.
    'The Big Latch On' event along with World Breastfeeding Week is aimed at promoting breastfeeding, offering support, guidance and nutritional information to mothers, organisers said.
    Breastfeeding Pinays, an online support group catering to mothers and those with newborns, was the main organiser for 'The Big Latch On' event.
    One woman who campaigns with the online support group explained why she chose to participate.
    "I joined this breastfeeding campaign to empower women because I want to become a role model also of other women that breastfeeding is not impossible. everything is possible through the right information, through proper guidance, and it empowers women. Women are not any less of a mom if they cannot breastfeed. They just ask for help and the right guidance," Cheryl Chan said.
    Breastfeeding has been found to benefit a baby's health and development and provides necessary nutrients and vitamins infants need to grow in their first six months, according to the UNICEF website. This year's theme is 'Women and work - Let's make it work', UNICEF said.
    According to the Philippine Statistics Authority's 2011 Family Health Survey, 92 percent of children in the Philippines between six to 35 months had been breastfed as some point, with 27 percent exclusively breastfed. The survey was conducted across 53,000 households in the country.
    One participant, Jessica Anne Santos, a mother who recently had twins, found breastfeeding was more economical than other alternatives.
    "Considering that I have twins, it saves me a lot financially, because we do not have to buy a formula, and I know that they're very healthy because they're drinking breast milk," she said.
    World Breastfeeding Week is a global initiative running from August 1-7.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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