World Breastfeeding Week: breastfeeding benefits both mom and child says CTA health Kalon

DHARAMSALA, 3 Aug: Breastfeeding offers tremendous health benefits to both mother and child says Health Minister (Kalon) Choekyong Wangchuk of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) as the department observed the World Breastfeeding Week.

The Kalon made the remarks at an event held today while declaring the winners of the Video Contest of “World Breastfeeding Week” at the department’s meeting hall here at Gangchen Kyishong, the Central Tibetan Secretariat.

Citing researches and WHO recommendation, he added that breastfeeding is specially designed to cater for child’s all nutritional needs in the first six months and that it provides a bonding time between the mother and baby and urged mothers to exclusively breastfeed their babies for the first six months as recommended by the WHO

He spoke highly of the culture of the breastfeeding prevalent in the Tibetan community in the past but hinted that it might be is slightly on the decline. This he credited to the lack of consumerism with every businesses driven by profit and false information to some extent while urging young and wannabe mothers to carry forth the good tradition.

He further spoke about the health benefits of breastfeeding and said that breastfed babies will have a stronger immune system, fewer ear infections and less likelihood of becoming obese later in childhood while it may result in a lower risk of breast cancer and lower risk of ovarian cancer to the mothers among other.

Calling commercial packed milk being used as substitute for breastfeeding both unhealthy and costly, he remarked that globally, breastfeeding saves US$ 300 billion every year as suggested by statistics.

At the event, Tenzin Norzin, a nurse by profession was declared the winner of the health department’s video contest celebrating the World Breastfeeding Week. Dr Tenzin Wangchuk and  Lhakpa Wangyal were adjudged the first runners-up and the second runners-up respectively.

They will be awarded a cash prize of Rs 8000, Rs 6000 and Rs 4000 respectively with a further consolidation prize of Rs 1500 each to those ranked 4-6th. The contest saw 16 participants. 

World Breastfeeding Week is observed between August 1-7 annually in more than 120 countries since 1992.

It s a global campaign to raise awareness and galvanise action on themes related to breastfeeding. the theme for this year is “Support breastfeeding for a healthier planet.”

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