by PNA
One in every three babies born in China has never ingested breast milk, political advisor Yang Lan said, expressing her worries about the declining rate of breastfeeding in China.
Yang, a mother of two, has submitted a
proposal calling for support for breastfeeding mothers in China at this year's session of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).
"There are over 16 million newborns in China every year, and only 28 percent of them were exclusively breastfed until the ideal age of six months," Yang told Xinhua in a recent interview.
According to the Ministry of Health, China's breastfeeding
rate was about 67 percent in 2008, much lower than the goal of 85 percent set in the National Program of Action for Child Development in China (2001-2010).
The rate is much lower than that of Cambodia and the Republic of Korea (ROK), whose breastfeeding rates have sharply increased due to a range of concerted public health
measures.
In Cambodia, the breastfeeding rate has increased from 12 percent in 2000 to over 65 percent in 2008. In the ROK, it has grown from 20 percent in 2000 to 89 percent in 2009, with the exclusive breastfeeding rate reaching 49.3 percent in 2009.
Exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life and continued breastfeeding until a child is two years old is
recommended by WHO and UNICEF. Breastfeeding has lifelong benefits, while formula feeding leads to sub-optimal health outcomes and economic losses.
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