Dai Xianren
The Beijing Municipal Health Commission and other 2025 departments recently jointly issued the implementation plan of the breastfeeding promotion action plan. The implementation plan specifies that by 80, the breastfeeding support rate of maternal and infant family members will reach more than 6%; The rate of exclusive breastfeeding for six months has reached over 70%.
The implementation plan issued by Beijing Municipality is a concrete implementation of the relevant requirements in the Notice of the Breastfeeding Promotion Action Plan (2021-2025) issued by the National Health Commission. The Notice mentions that by 2025, the breastfeeding support rate of maternal and infant family members will reach more than 80%.
WHO research has found that breastfeeding prevents 30% of children from becoming overweight and 35% from developing diabetes. Breastfeeding also reduces the risk of disease in infants, as well as the risk of breast and ovarian cancer in mothers. There are many benefits to breastfeeding, but the reality is that the most natural and convenient access to nutrition for newborns is increasingly "blocked".
Relevant data show that only 23 countries in the world have reached a 6-month exclusive breastfeeding rate of more than 60%, and China's 6-month exclusive breastfeeding rate is only about 30%. The widespread fact that children do not receive breast milk is threatening the health of many newborns. Increasing breastfeeding rates is particularly urgent and important.
Previous survey data show that in the past 20 years, China's breastfeeding rate has been declining, and the national 6-month exclusive breastfeeding rate is only about 30%, lower than the 50% target set by the state. Breastfeeding rates have been declining, and it will not be easy to reach targets such as "more than 2025% breastfeeding support for maternal and infant family members" by 80.
Nowadays, many women not only have to bear the burden of raising children, but also play the role of strong women in the workplace. They work under pressure, breastfeeding time is insufficient, some employers also squeeze breastfeeding leave, so that newborn mothers do not have more time to breastfeed their children, and the allocation rate of maternal and infant facilities in public places is generally not high, and many enterprises do not have mother and baby rooms, etc., all of which have led to a decline in breastfeeding rates. Therefore, the low breastfeeding rate is not only a serious health problem, but also a serious social problem.
In this regard, relevant departments should increase efforts to train professionals, and truly implement breastfeeding guidance services, so that every newborn mother and family can recognize the importance of breastfeeding and understand the correct way to breastfeed. Community health institutions and hospitals should pay attention to the responsibility of providing breastfeeding guidance services.
Newborn mothers and their families should also do their best to protect their children, and to be qualified parents, breastfeeding their children is a key first step. Enterprises should give more care and care to female employees who are breastfeeding. It is also necessary to further optimize the maternity leave system to protect the legitimate rights and interests of female employees during breastfeeding. It is necessary to establish a reasonable childbirth cost sharing mechanism to reduce the pressure on enterprises. In public places and workplaces, the construction of mother and baby rooms should be accelerated.
To promote the "return" of breastfeeding, it is urgent to protect "her rights". To reverse the declining breastfeeding rate and achieve the goal of "exclusive breastfeeding rate of more than 2025% within six months" by 6, it is important to enable mothers to better fulfill their responsibilities for child-rearing, so that mothers can do their best as mothers.
The plan implemented in Beijing also pointed out: the proportion of breastfeeding consultation clinics or pregnancy nutrition clinics in medical institutions is increasing; The allocation rate of maternal and infant facilities in public places has reached more than 80%. In short, it is necessary to carry out all-round "escort" and all-round support for breastfeeding, and form a joint force of the whole society to reverse the dilemma of declining breastfeeding rate, in order to promote the return of breastfeeding.