A facility where lactating working mothers could breastfeed their babies whiles at work, has been inaugurated at the Tamale Teaching Hospital (TTH) in Tamale in the Northern Region with a call to the government and other stakeholders to put in efforts to support and promote exclusively breastfeeding in the country.

Dr Jacob Mahama, Northern Regional Health Director of Ghana Heath Service who made the call also advised other corporate organizations in the country to replicate the gesture by providing a room to aid nursing mother’s breastfeed during working hours.

Named “Baby Friendly Corner”, the facility the cost of which was not given, is a collaboration between the Northern Regional Health Directorate and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) as part of its Baby Friendly Initiative (BFHI).

The inauguration also formed part of efforts at restoring the importance of Baby Friendly Hospitals and Corners all over the Region and how they could impact positively on both mother and child by promoting and supporting breastfeeding for the first 1000 days of life.

Madam Clara Dube, Chief of Field Officer of UNICEF in Tamale noted that in spite of the benefits of breastfeeding, only 50 percent of children were exclusively breastfed within half year of their birth with just 56 percent of newborn babies being introduced to breastfeeding within first hour after birth.

She said exclusively breastfed children were less likely to die from childhood related illnesses and this could contribute to 22 percent of reduction in neonatal mortality.

She added that breastfeeding gave protection against cancer and could prevent 20,000 breast cancer deaths every year in the country.

“Breastfeeding also protected against ovarian cancer and also improved on birth spacing and this is why mothers should continue to breastfeed their children up to two years, which could improve their development,” she added.