Rich or poor, all countries fail to support breastfeeding: UN

No countrydoes enough to help mothers breastfeed their babies for therecommended minimum of six months, a U.N.-backed study said onTuesday, as it called for governments to clamp down onbaby-formula marketing and pass laws for paid maternity leave.

Experts said investing in breastfeeding which helpsprevent infant deaths and boosts physical development and IQ could save hundreds of thousands of children's lives and bringmajor economic benefits.

A study by the Global Breastfeeding Collective a newinitiative to improve breastfeeding rates -showed only 40per cent of young babies were exclusively breastfed for sixmonths, as recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).

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Boosting the rate to 50 per cent by 2025 would save the livesof 520,000 young children and potentially generate $300 billion US in economic gains over 10 years, the report said.

The gains would result from reduced illness and health carecosts and increased productivity.

Pediatricians say exclusive breastfeeding for at least thefirst six months can help prevent diarrhea and pneumonia, twomajor causes of infant death, and reduces the risk ofinfections, allergies and sudden infant death syndrome.

It also improves babies' cognitive development and protectsmothers against ovarian and breast cancer.

Rwanda and Burundi have the highest rates of exclusivebreastfeeding for a baby's first six months 87 and 83 per centrespectively according to an index published with the report,while Chad and Djibouti came bottom, scoring 0 and 1 per cent.

In the United States, the world's largest economy, only aquarter of babies under six months are breastfed exclusively,according to the scorecard. In China, the second biggest economy, the rate is one in five.

Anthony Lake, head of the U.N. children's agency UNICEF,said promoting breastfeeding was one of the most cost-effectiveinvestments nations could make in the future health of theireconomies and societies.

"By failing to invest in breastfeeding, we are failingmothers and their babies and paying a double price: in lostlives and in lost opportunity," he said in a statement.

The index, released at the start of World BreastfeedingWeek, is the first global compilation of comparative data onbreastfeeding.

"Breastfeeding isn't just a one woman job," UNICEFspokeswoman France Begin told a media briefing.

"There are millions of women out there who want tobreastfeed, but they don't have the support they need to do so."

The collective, comprising some 20 groups led by the WHO andUNICEF, also called for countries to enact better workplacebreastfeeding policies and control the marketing of breastmilksubstitutes.

Although formula milk contains the nutrients needed for ababy's growth, experts say it doesn't offer the added protectionagainst illness.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus described breastmilk as"a baby's first vaccine,"protecting them from potentiallydeadly diseases.

The United Nations says breastfeeding is critical forachieving many of the Sustainable Development Goals, a set oftargets agreed by world leaders in 2015 for reducing poverty andinequality.