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Ingabire Assoumpta, Director General of NCDA
This is a month-long campaign, starting from Breastfeeding Week from August 1 to August 30, 2024, with the theme “Healthy Babies, Our Pride”.
This event is organized with the aim of continuing to improve the health and development of children and in collaboration with the National Child Development and Protection Agency (NCDA) and the National Board of Health (RBC) and their different partners.
Ingabil Asumuta, director of the National Centre for Child Development and Protection, who represented the family minister, said the Rwandan government was responsible for the job because the children belonged to the state.
He said: “In order for every Rwandan child to grow up healthy and live a good life that the country wants, it is for him to start sucking the yellow milk given to him by his mother. We also remind parents that even if the child you adopt is yours, it is also a Rwandan child, which is why the country has prioritized this program to take care of each other when the child is born.
Several studies have shown that for children under 6 months of age, who should be exclusively breastfed, there is a significant gap in breastfeeding, ranging between 10% and 16%.
Ingabire Assoumpta reveals why breastfeeding is declining.
“When we look at the reasons why parents don’t breastfeed as often, it’s life changing, requiring the mother to go out and find household supplies, which makes her forget about breastfeeding. It’s also a lack of knowledge, which makes the mother feel there are other alternatives, but for parents, there is no alternative,” he said.
Other reasons cited by Ingabire include the mother’s lack of support after giving birth, inadequate food and nutrition, which results in her not getting a good salary, family conflicts and difficulty buying a house.
Dr. Uwimana Aline, RBC’s director of maternal and child health, said children who are not properly cared for can become malnourished and obese, and mothers must be safe for this to happen.
“When the mother is well cared for and mentally healthy, she is happy,” he said. “But when he disrupts the muscles, they also disappear because it starts in the brain.”
Western Province Governor Dushimimana Lambert thanked the partners involved in looking after the health of the children and mothers, reminding me that everyone should be involved so that children eat well.
Dushimimana Lambert, Governor of Western Province
He said: “Although the mother is the provider of the breast, family members, the father of the child and the employer all have a great responsibility to participate (…) We remember that every child is healthy, intelligent and brings the country and the family forward.”
Some people like Sindikubwaho Mathias and Nyiramyavere Thacienne who live in Gihorwe Kagari Kabatwa district said they were unaware of the importance of breastfeeding.
“I didn’t realise that breast milk plays such an important role in a child’s life, both in terms of physical and mental development,” Nyiramajambere said.
I am not one of them. But here they tell us that it is not enough, you should also stay close to her, help her with housework and say nice things to her when she is nursing because it helps her to feed.
A study on family health and well-being conducted in 2015 (DHS 2015) showed that 87.3% of women in Rwanda breastfed their children for six months without any other intervention. Five years later, in 2020, their number had dropped to 80.9%.
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