The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has urged the Bauchi State Government to approve six months of paid maternity leave for lactating mothers to facilitate proper exclusive breastfeeding.

UNICEF’s Bauchi Chief of Field Office, Dr Nuzhat Rafique, made the appeal on Monday while speaking with journalists in commemoration of this year’s World Breastfeeding Week. Rafique, who expressed concerns about the status of child nutrition in Bauchi, said that the situation is a “very grave” one.

According to her, half of the children are malnourished, adding that more have been malnourished in the past, leading to chronic malnutrition and stunting.

“There are a lot of children in Bauchi as a state, and the nutrition situation is very poor. And, you know, breastfeeding is one of the first promises towards good nutrition and survival of the child,” she said.

She urged mothers to embrace exclusive breastfeeding, which she described as a life-saving nutrient for the survival of children. “Every grandmother should know. The whole community should know. And now I will talk about the theme of this year for breastfeeding,” she said.

Rafique also lauded the chairmen of local government areas for their prompt contribution of N100 million to the Child Nutrition Fund (CNF), while urging the Governor, Bala Mohammed, to release the promised N200 million to allow UNICEF to match the fund with an additional N300 million.

Also speaking, a Nutrition Specialist, Philomena Irene, said that if six months of exclusive breastfeeding are supported for every working mother, then arrangements are needed in workplaces for mothers to feed their children when they rejoin the office after six months and begin complementary feeding, but they still need to continue feeding for 24 months

“If they don’t have a good private place to feed the child, it’s difficult for them to continue feeding while working and performing and contributing towards the country’s progress and the state’s progress.

“It’s very important to have all the system support for the mothers and for the families to continue breastfeeding the children exclusively and then continuously till 24 months,” she said.