Since 2006, World Breastfeeding Week has been celebrated in Portugal in a partnership between the Directorate-General for Health and the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA).
This week, the population is alerted to the benefits of breastfeeding and all health professionals are invited to work on the annual theme in their respective services.
This year the campaign theme is “Breastfeeding: A win for life”, making a close connection with the Millennium Development Goals. The MDGs were established by governments and the United Nations to combat poverty and promote healthy and sustainable development on a global basis in 2015. The objectives of World Breastfeeding Week are as follows:
- Inform people about the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and how they relate to breastfeeding and infant and child feeding;
- Show the progress made to date and identify the main gaps to improve breastfeeding;
- Draw attention to the importance of strengthening actions to protect, promote and support breastfeeding as a fundamental intervention in the MDGs and the post-2015 Agenda;
- Stimulate interest in young people of both sexes in the relevance of breastfeeding in today's changing world.
Through the National Child and Youth Health Program, it is recommended that from birth this should be a mandatory topic in consultations with parents, in order to promote the maintenance of exclusive breastfeeding until 6 months of age and, only from this age onwards, complement it with the beginning of dietary diversification.
In addition to the support provided by the National Health Service, non-governmental and non-profit organizations are present in Portugal that also protect, promote and support breastfeeding, through peer-to-peer help (mother-to-mother). Civil society is very important and is currently very mobilized.
The Directorate-General for Health joins the spirit of this campaign by highlighting the “Anticipatory Care” of the National Child and Youth Health Program:
- It is recommended that from birth onwards this should be a mandatory topic in consultations with parents, in order to promote the maintenance of exclusive breastfeeding until the age of 6 months and, only from this age onwards, complement it with the beginning of food diversification.
- Parents and professionals are advised to consult the – DGS Guidelines in http://www.saudereprodutiva.dgs.pt and breastfeeding manual from the Portuguese Committee for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) - National Commission http://www.unicef.pt/docs/manual_aleitamento.pdf.
See more: http://www.dgs.pt/directrizes-da-dgs/normas-e-circulares-normativas/norma-n-0102013-de-31052013.aspx