Ministry/Department : Ministry of Health & Family Welfare
Aims to enhance optimal breastfeeding practices in the country.
Program:
- It seeks to create an enabling environment to ensure that mothers, husbands and families receive adequate information and support for promotion of breastfeeding.
- The programme has been named ‘MAA’ to signify the support a lactating mother requires from family members and at health facilities to breastfeed successfully
- The chief components of the Programme are
- Community awareness generation,
- Strengthening inter personal communication through ASHA,
- Skilled support for breastfeeding at Delivery points in Public health facilities, and
- Monitoring and Award/recognition
Facts about breast-feeding:
- It enhances immunity level in child
- Helps to reduce under-five deaths
- Around 20% new born deaths and 13% under-five deaths can be prevented by breastfeeding.
- Breastfed infant also have higher intelligence quotient.