20th July, 2017
The Enugu State Government has embarked on the training of health communicators on how to effectively deliver exclusive breastfeeding campaign messages to women during their annual August Meeting in the state.
The state Director of Public Health, Dr. Okechukwu Ossai, disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Enugu.
August Meeting, a community or faith-based meeting of married women, peculiar to the South East serves as a social integration, re-engineering and economic forum for women.
It is also a veritable platform for women to collectively contribute positively to the development of their various communities and the society at large, especially in the South-East.
Ossai said that the health communicators in the state Ministry of Health would be divided into 17 teams to visit August meeting points in each of the 17 council areas of the state.
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He said that the health communicators would be taking the exclusive breastfeeding campaign to all the 291 wards of the state, especially women at the grassroots.
The commissioner said the team would also educate women on other health-related issues affecting women and children.
“The ministry is planning a massive exclusive breastfeeding campaign; an extension of the state government funded Free Maternal and Child Healthcare System.
“Exclusive breastfeeding is the most effective and preventive maternal healthcare system adopted by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the state wants to key into it and reap its benefits also.
“Apart from the exclusive breastfeeding; the health communicator teams would also talk to women on other mother and child related health issues,’’ he said.
Ossai said that experienced showed that good exclusive breastfeeding practice by women of child bearing age would improve the gains of the state’s Free Maternal and Child Healthcare system at large.