From: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu (Rich Winkel)
Subject: VENEZUELA: BREAST-FEEDING CAMPAIGN LAUNCHED 
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: PACH
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1992 23:23:20 GMT

/** reg.samerica: 185.0 **/
** Topic: IPS:Venezuela: Breast-Feeding **
** Written  1:46 pm  Aug  8, 1992 by hrcoord in cdp:reg.samerica **
From: Human Rights Coordinator <hrcoord>
Subject: IPS:Venezuela: Breast-Feeding

/* Written 12:34 am  Aug  8, 1992 by newsdesk in cdp:ips.englibrary */
Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Title: VENEZUELA: BREAST-FEEDING CAMPAIGN LAUNCHED

caracas, aug 5 (ips) -- in recognition of the first international
week in celebration of breast feeding, venezuela's government has
launched a nation-wide campaign to promote the practice.

the programme, with support from the united nations children's
fund (unicef) and the panamerican health organisation (pho),
hopes to improve the living conditions and potential of both
mothers and children.

alberto fuenmayor, unicef's representative in venezuela, told
ips that the programme seeks to follow the proposals in the
united nations declaration of children's rights and will involve
all sectors of society concerned with mother-child relations.

in venezuela, and throughout the third world, diarrhoea and
respiratory diseases are responsible for a high percentage of
infant deaths.

according to fuenmayor, substitutes for mother's milk, often
prepared with local water supplies, are the cause of death in
over 50 percent of these cases.

every day, between three and four thousand children die from
diarrhoea or respiratory infections due to poor health and
nutritional conditions.

unicef and paho representatives emphasised the fact that
breast feeding is not just a matter of survival, but a means of
improving the lives of both mother and child.

mother's milk not only provides a baby with all the necessary
nutritional elements, but also reduces the risk of death from
respiratory diseases by 72.3 percent and the incidence of death
by diarrhoea by 25 percent.

breast-feeding also offers 98 percent protection against
pregnancy during the first six months and reduces the risk of
ovarian and breast cancers by 95 percent.

according to unicef official egla abrahams, the venezuelan
plan focuses on the education of both mothers and health workers
on the importance and practice of breast-feeding.

the venezuelan plan includes the creation of a national
committee for the promotion of breast-feeding and the formation
of community and hospital groups that support and educate women
in both the pre- and post-natal periods.

it will also take advantage of unicef's ''pro-breast-feeding
hospitals'' programme, which gives grants to hospitals and health
centres that promote breast-feeding. (more/ips)
----

venezuela: government (2)

these hospitals and health centres must adopt measures that
include the elimination of natural milk substitutes, the training
of health workers and the same-room housing of mother and
newborn.

the unicef programme is already in place in bolivia, brazil,
mexico and nine african and asian nations.
(end/ips/trd/so/caf-sfi/kb/92).
----



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