DUSHANBE , August 3, Asia-Plus - Ten-day activities on protecting, promoting and supporting breastfeeding are ongoing in Tajikistan . 

“Ten-day activities on protecting and promoting breastfeeding in Tajikistan have been organized within the framework of the Breastfeeding Support Program being implemented by the Ministry of Health in cooperation with the UNICEF Country Office in Tajikistan,” Mr. Sherali Rahmatulloyev, the deputy head of the Dushanbe Healthcare Department also the breastfeeding support program coordinator, said. 

The World Breastfeeding Week 2006 is ongoing throughout the world from August 1-7.

  In Tajikistan , the ten-day activities on promoting the breastfeeding are carried out under the motto of “Milk of My Mother Is Nectar for My Heart,” according to information from the Ministry of The Health.  

According to the source, the main objective of these activities is in raising awareness of benefit of breastfeeding and reducing infant mortality in the republic.  

“Within the framework of these ten-day activities, representatives from the Health Ministry and the UNICEF Country Office are holding meetings with population on the issues of usefulness of breastfeeding and distributing booklets and posters among them,” the source noted.  

            In the meantime, the Health Ministry press service says that a bill on protection of the breastfeeding and state control over turnover of baby food drafted by the Ministry of Health has been submitted for consideration to the Majlisi Namoyandagon ( Tajikistan ’s lower chamber of parliament). 

ABOUT: The theme for World Breastfeeding Week 2006 is "Code watch: 25 years of protecting breastfeeding".  According to the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (the organizers of the week), over 60 countries have legislated all or many provisions of the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes (the Code), which regulates the marketing of breastmilk substitutes. The week will celebrate this success and draw attention to the work still needed to improve breastfeeding practices worldwide.  World Breastfeeding Week is coordinated every year by the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action to commemorate the Innocenti Declaration to protect, promote and support breastfeeding.