AEGiS-AP: U.N. claims breast feeding saves 6M babies

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2005. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

U.N. claims breast feeding saves 6M babies

Associated Press - November 21, 2005

GENEVA -- Breast feeding is saving the lives of 6 million babies a year, but more than twice that could be saved if more mothers would use the time-honored method, the U.N. children's agency said Tuesday.

Thirty-nine percent of infants in developing countries are exclusively breast fed, UNICEF said, blaming "lack of awareness amongst mothers, and lack of support from health workers and communities."

A total of 1.3 million lives could be saved each year if mothers followed its recommendation of exclusive breast feeding up until six months, then complementary feeding for at least two years, Miriam Labbok of UNICEF said in a statement. UNICEF said breast milk gives a baby ideal nourishment and disease immunity.

Global breast-feeding rates rose at least 15 percent from 1990 and 2000, UNICEF said, as advocacy groups campaigned for the practice.

A separate joint statement by UNICEF, the World Health Organization and other organizations said, however, that HIV-positive mothers needed counseling and advice in deciding how to breast feed their babies because of the risk that the infant could be infected.

Studies have shown that drugs can greatly lower the infection rate, which the statement estimated at 5 to 20 percent without treatment.

In the United States, 58 percent of babies were breast fed in 1994, according to a report released last year by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, compared with just 30 percent in 1974.

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