The Department of Health and the Thai Breastfeeding Center Foundation (TBCF) have come up with a plan to increase the number of breastfed newborns after statistics showed the number of breastfed babies in the country had decreased to around 14%.
Dr Suwanchai Wattanayingcharoenchai, director-general of the Department of Health, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to run a breastfeeding promotional campaign with the centre yesterday.
According to Dr Suwanchai, the World Health Organization (WHO) suggests that babies be breastfed for the first six months of their lives before supplementing with food until they reach their second year of life.
However, citing the survey conducted in 2019 by the National Statistical Office, 34% of newborns got breastfed in their first hour, while 14% of them were breastfed in their first six months.
Following the results of the survey, the Public Health Ministry developed a breastfeeding promotion campaign following WHO guidelines to encourage statistical improvement.
According to Dr Suwanchai, the campaign includes the recommendation for mothers to breastfeed their newborns within an hour of birth, with the advice of breastfeeding alone for the first six months and supplementing with food until the child reaches age two.
He added that the campaign will rely on collaboration between the department and another related sector to increase the number of newborns who have been breastfed in their first six months by half by 2025.
Dr Siriporn Kanchana, the TBCF president, said the next plan for breastfeeding promotion will be the 8th annual National Breastfeeding Symposium on March 21–23.