Joe Issa Hails Policy on Feeding Jamaican Infants, Young Children Argues It Will Change Nutrition Habits, Improve Health Indicators

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Businessman and philanthropist Joe Issa hail the latest policy initiative by the ministry of health on feeding Jamaican infants and a strategic action plan to accompany the programme.
Joseph Issa
"Jamaica does not have an enviable record or indicator of child nourishment up to five-years-old at least and it generally derives from bad nutrition habits earlier in infant and childhood.

“And given the critical importance of nutrition especially early in life, I believe the policy could change the habits of parents, especially mothers once they become more aware.

“The bigger picture is the short and long-term benefits that will accrue to citizens and the country through lower health costs and greater worker productivity by adopting good nutrition practices from early in life,” said Issa.

Issa was commenting on the move by Minister of Health Dr Christopher Tufton “to give Jamaicans a new National Infant and Young Child Feeding Policy and the National Infant and Young Child Feeding Strategic Action Plan, which are both geared towards improving the health and well-being of the nation's children.”

Addressing the National Breastfeeding Week's launch and two-day conference at the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston recently, Tufton is quoted to have said the policy and plan will better inform healthcare professionals and parents on the proper nutritional habits they should develop in children.
Dr Christopher Tufton

Both policy papers are said to have been drafted and are being discussed by Cabinet. The action plan is believed to include “several strategies aimed at improving some specific nutrition indicators - exclusive breastfeeding and complementary feeding indicators."

He pointed out, however, that with the support of Government and non-government partners, several interventions in the plan have already been implemented, and that they have “resulted in significant improvements in areas such as training programmes for health-care workers, public-education campaigns and community-level interventions, along with others, in pursuit of the agreed targets," according to the article.

It quoted data from the World Health Organisation (WHO) which show that “breast milk, as the natural first food for babies, provides all the energy and nutrients that the infant needs for the first six months of life, and it continues to provide up to half or more of a child's nutritional needs during the second half of the first year, and up to one-third of the second year of life."

The minister emphasised that the country must continue to work at improving the exclusive breastfeeding rates. "It is too important an issue to let it fall by the wayside. Our mothers are critical to this process, and so we have to work with them wherever they are to reap the results we want," the article quoted him as saying.

Breastfeeding Week is being observed under the theme 'Sustaining Breastfeeding Together'.

Comments

  1. Sally Shiv28 November 2018 at 08:06

    Joe Issa Backs “Planning for Survivability of Today and Sustainability of Tomorrow!” https://josephissabooststourism.wordpress.com/2018/11/06/joe-issa-backs-planning-for-suitability-of-today-and-sustainability-of-tomorrow/

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