Kerala is the first state to introduce a mother-and-baby-friendly strategy in hospitals. In all, 44 hospitals in the state have achieved the mother and baby-friendly initiative accreditation, including 17 government and 27 private hospitals. Health Minister Veena George has said inaugurated the World Breastfeeding Fortnight. Certificates attesting to the hospital's mother and baby-friendly efforts were also distributed. Despite success on other fronts, the State needs to do more in the area of breastfeeding. Early breastfeeding start was just 41.8%, and only 63.7% of newborns were exclusively breastfed during the first six months of their lives. These figures are likely to improve as a result of the new programme.
Kerala will soon launch a home-based child-care scheme in which ASHAs would individually monitor the developmental progress of children up to the age of 18 months. Ms. George asserted that this was done to encourage breastfeeding and to focus on the nutritional needs of both the kid and the mother. She stated that creches and nursing rooms should be installed in all workplaces with more than 50 women.
Among those present were Director of Health Services K.J. Reena, NHM mission director Jeevan Babu, and UNICEF representative Kaushik Ganguly.
