Nursing Mothers In 20 States To Enjoy 6 Months Maternity Leave Henceforth

BY MARY KUYE

Opportunity for nursing mothers to practice exclusive breastfeeding has eventually arrived as women working under any of the APC states will henceforth get six months of maternity leave.

The announcement was contained in a communiqué issued at the end of a virtual meeting for developing common policy initiatives on maternal and child nutrition promotion in the APC States.

Secretaries to State Governments under the auspices of the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF) issued the communiqué signed by Secretaries to the State Governments of Jigawa and Plateau Alhaji Adamu Fanini and Prof. Danladi Atu.

They said the decision was in furtherance of parental support for children at birth and the health of the nursing parents in the APC controlled states.

The APC governors also reviewed the status of the child and maternal nutrition in APC states and considered the implementation of the proposal by the PGF Secretariat.

The communiqué states: “In view of the importance of parental support for children at birth and the health of the nursing parents, the meeting recommended that APC controlled states should prioritise implementation of 180 days (6 months) maternity leave for women.

“The meeting observed the importance of exclusive breastfeeding to the growth and general health of a child and therefore recommends that APC controlled states should encourage and support women to practice six months exclusive breastfeeding for children from birth;

“The meeting equally noted the importance of information and how it affects the attitudes of citizens toward the issues of nutrition and therefore urge APC controlled states to design a special communication strategy to raise public awareness on malnutrition and its consequences;

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“The meeting observed that there is no institutional framework for the implementation of programmes on food and nutrition in some states and therefore resolved that APC controlled states should set up State Committee on Food and Nutrition to relate with all FG programmes on Food and Nutrition and coordinate PGF’s implementation framework on child Nutrition in APC controlled state;

“The meeting equally encouraged each APC controlled state to continually give Status Report on what currently obtains in their state with a view to creating a template that reflects the current status of each APC state on Child Nutrition and each SGS should nominate the focal person for their state to relate with the PGF Secretariat on the implementation.”