Maputo — The Mozambican Health Ministry has insisted that society must become fully involved in activities to promote exclusive breast-feeding, during the first six months of life.

The call was made in Maputo on Thursday during a press conference to announce the launching, on Saturday, of a year long National Campaign to Promote Breast-Feeding.

Lidia Chongo, head of the Women and Child Health Department, at the Health Ministry, explained that this initiative aims to involve health professionals, government organizations, NGOs, and community leaders, in disseminating messages about the vital role of exclusive breast-feeding during the first few months of a child's life.

The campaign also intends to increase awareness among society, organizations and communities of the importance of protecting and supporting breast-feeding and good practices of infant feeding.

"Promoting breast-feeding is one of the Ministry's priorities and we expect this initiative to promote a change of behaviour towards infant feeding", said Chongo.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that failure to breast feed infants leads to the death of about 1.4 million children across the world every year and is the cause of 10 per cent of illnesses in children aged under five.

The Health Ministry regards current rates of exclusive breast-feeding in Mozambique as too low. The 2003 Survey on Demographics and Health showed that, although 94 per cent of children continue to receive breast milk until at least the age of 15 months, only 30 per cent of those aged under six months are fed only on breast milk.

According to the same document, about 80 per cent of children aged between six and nine months are receiving complementary food that is inadequate.

Chongo stressed that breast-feeding helps protect infants from infectious and contagious diseases, diarrhoeas, and respiratory diseases, because mother's milk contains all that a child needs for healthy growth and development.

"Besides being clean and hygienic, mother's milk is ready for consumption and at the right temperature, the mother does not need to buy it, and the more she breast-feeds the more milk she will produce', explained Chongo.

Answering a question on the risks that an HIV positive mother may pose to her child through her milk, Chongo said there is no risk at all if the infant is exclusively fed on the mother's milk.

"Children's mucous membrane and digestive systems are very sensitive and when the child is fed on alternative foods, they may cause damage that allows infection by the mother's HIV virus when breast-feeding", she said.

The ministry is to train its professional staff, activists and media professionals, to divulge messages on exclusive breast-feeding during the first six months.