It’s incredible how happy and fulfilled a mother feels as she watches her child’s development from birth. This growth is usually facilitated by breastfeeding. Breastfeeding is more than just the ability to access one’s right to food, one’s right to health, or the performance of the duty of motherhood. Breast milk contains more components than any formula, food, or mixture on earth combined.

The bond a mother forms with her infant when breastfeeding has enormous advantages that assist the child as an adult. While nursing, a mother can quickly determine whether her child is healthy, sick, happy, or upset without using any words. The majority of the time, midwives tell us that talking to our children while we breastfeed is important because even when they are unable to speak back, they understand. This is crucial for the growth and development of children.

Did you know, however, that the benefits of breastfeeding endure longer for both the mother and the baby’s health the longer the child is breastfed?

Many scientists agree that there are numerous advantages to breastfeeding a baby exclusively for the first six months up to two years of age. Antibodies found in breast milk lower the incidence of ear infections, diarrhea, allergies, and asthma. They continue to note that babies who are breastfed have stronger immune systems and are less likely to require hospitalisation.

Appropriate diet, consumption of fluids like oatmeal, water, and fruit juice, good health practices, and the support of the mother’s entire family are all necessary for a mother to properly breastfeed her child and fulfill this divinely mandated duty. A mother will always find time for her baby to breastfeed, connect, chat, laugh, and experience the joy of motherhood despite all the other responsibilities of any adult woman, talk of professional/career aspirations outside the household setting, the desire to achieve career goals, not to mention the pressure that comes with it.

In commemoration of the recently concluded World Breast Feeding week under the theme ‘Step up for Breastfeeding’, I urge the government, the private sector, and other companies to take into consideration creating a nursery or special space at the office. In these spaces, moms can sit for a 20–30-minute break and breastfeed their children. This improves performance, stabilises the workplace, and keeps a mother’s mental health in check because she won’t have to worry about leaving her three-and-a-half-month-old at home with a babysitter for more than 10 hours while she is at work.

It is true that when you strive to eat and drink more to ensure that you have enough breast milk for the baby, this can sometimes result in weight gain. Instead of cutting back on drinks or placing limitations, increase your exercise to stay healthy and fit. So that you may continue to be an example to other mothers. Shut your ears to any unfavourable advice, especially when they say things like, “the baby is now a big boy or girl and he can do away with breast milk at six or eight months.” Continue breastfeeding your child and only introduce supplemental feeds once they are at least six months old. Also, make the most of any free time you have to do so. As a mother, you benefit in two ways: your child grows up healthy, and you lower your risk of developing breast cancer, ovarian cancer, and other cancers. It is a twofold gain.

Never forget the joy of parenthood, and once the breastfeeding phase is over, you will work on it harder. Don’t worry about the peer pressure about how you are gaining weight and, from what I hear, growing out of shape.

I have personally breastfed my first child up to one year and six months. My current baby is one year and three months old, he is still breastfeeding and I intend to breastfeed him for up to two years. I am enjoying the benefits of this as they both rarely catch common illnesses. I recognize that I am privileged to work for an organisation that makes allowances for me to travel with my child so that breastfeeding can continue. That is why I call upon the government to mandate workplaces to cater to breastfeeding mothers. 

Last but not least, I urge all women who are able to do so to prolong their baby’s breastfeeding experience by delaying early weaning and to take advantage of the positive impacts breastfeeding has on both the mother and the child.

Sarah Akampurira is the Programme Coordinator, Community Empowerment at CEHURD, and a breastfeeding advocate.

Representing a Doctor caught up in the Justice System for Provision of Post-Abortion Care

KATIA ALUPO OLARO
Programme Associate, Strategic Litigation

In April 2020, the accused was arrested for allegedly committing the offence of Supply of Drugs to procure abortion contrary to Section 143 of the Penal Code Act, Cap. 120 of the Laws of Uganda. He was arraigned in court, formally charged and subsequently remanded to Kitalya Maximum Security Prison, Wakiso District, Uganda. This affected the accused’s work and the eventual closure of his pharmacy.

Download case brief to learn more about the case;

By Peter Eceru – Programme Coordinator, Advocacy – CEHURD

Currently, the East African Legislative Assembly is undertaking regional consultations on the Sexual and Reproductive Health Bill, 2021 in the all-members states. The Bill is premised on Article 118 of the treaty for the establishment of the East African Community which provides for cooperation in health and promotes the management of health delivery systems and better planning mechanisms to enhance the efficiency of health care services. The East African Community treaty also seeks to harmonise national health policies and regulations in order to achieve quality health care in partner states. The treaty also looks at cooperation in the development of specialised health training, health research, reproductive health, pharmaceutical products and preventive medicines.

The Bill further seeks to strengthen the mechanism that facilitates attainment by the Community of the goal to ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health care services by 2030. These services include family planning, information and education, and the integration of reproductive health into national strategies and programmes. This goal is enshrined in the EAC Integrated Reproductive Maternal, New-born Child and Adolescent Health Policy Guidelines 2016-2030, and the EAC Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights Strategic Plan.

The Bill recognises the obligation of Partner States under several international, continental and Community frameworks, to respect, protect and fulfil the right to health. They do this by facilitating, providing, and promoting the highest attainable standard of health and providing measures toward the full realisation of the right to health. Bill will strengthen the mechanism to facilitate the attainment of the Community goal of ensuring universal access to sexual and reproductive health care services, including family planning, information and education.

The Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health indicators in the East African Community member states are worse than the average in the rest of Africa. High maternal and mortality rates for children under five, high unmet need for contraceptives and adolescent fertility rates demonstrate a need for collective action across the community to respond to the sexual and reproductive health challenges. In 2020, 39,000 children in East Africa were born with HIV infections that could have been easily prevented. During the same period, 62,000 mothers died from childbirth complications that could have been easily addressed. Two hundred million girls and women are estimated to have undergone genital mutilation. Additionally, cervical cancer remains a leading cause of cancer-related deaths in African women, where the estimated rate of deaths is 94 women per 100,000. Currently, 19 million women in East Africa cannot access modern contraception and a further 2.5 million are at risk of death due to complications from unsafe abortions. The Covid-19 pandemic led to a very big increase in violence against women and girls all over the East African Community putting the future of millions of women and children in jeopardy.

Indicators across the different countries in the region vary in terms of severity. For example, South Sudan has the highest maternal mortality rate within the Community with 1,150 deaths per 100,000 women who give birth, while Rwanda has the lowest at 248 deaths per 100,000 women giving birth. These variations demonstrate the need for collaborative health systems planning and how this would benefit the region in dealing with high mortality rates within the East African Community Member states. Various countries have over time developed best practices that can be shared across the Community. In Uganda, a weekly maternal death surveillance enables the ministry to follow up on maternal deaths and investigate the causes. This enables timely response.

To strengthen regional Health Information Management Systems, it is critical to have a regional framework to guide this. The collection of data on for example contraceptive use, sexual and reproductive health and the wider reproductive, adolescent maternal newborn remains uncoordinated across the Community. In Uganda, this information is collected through the Uganda Demographic Health Survey and the Health Information Management Systems. In the case of partner states, different information is collected among partner states and this information is collected along different time periods. This makes it difficult to utilise the information for the purpose of regional planning and collective decision-making. Sound and reliable data is the foundation for decision-making across all health system building blocks and is essential for health system policy formulation and implementation, governance and regulation, health research, human resource development, service delivery and financing.

The consultations on this Bill are therefore a very important process in strengthening regional integration and specific emphasis on the promotion of sexual and reproductive health in the EAC partner states.

A version of this article was first published in the Daily Monitor Newspaper on 6th July 2022.