Promote Breast-Feeding or Face Sanctions: Indonesia

By Ahmad Fuad Yahya JAKARTA, June 9 (Bernama) -- Indonesian healthcare providers have been told to promote breast-feeding to new mothers or face official sanctions. Health Ministry director-general for nutrition and maternal and infant health Slamet Riyadi Yuwono said mothers should breast-feed their babies exclusively for six months after birth unless there was a specific medical condition or emergency. "As soon as possible after delivery, healthcare workers and healthcare facilities are required to help mothers initiate breast-feeding for at least one hour," he was qouted as saying by English daily The Jakarta Post, Saturday. A government regulation on breast-feeding, which was issued on March 1 requires healthcare workers and facilities to promote breast-feeding to mothers and imposes tough rules on the use of infant formula for newborns. That regulation was promulgated to implement the 2009 Health Law, which stipulates that every child has the right to be exclusively breast-fed for the first six months of life to achieve optimal growth, giving an exception for medical reasons. Under the regulation, any healthcare workers who refuses to encourage exclusive breast-feeding as stipulated, may be imposed with administrative sanctions in the form of verbal warnings, written warnings, and/or license revocation. Product manufacturers and distributors would also be liable for sanctions and warnings for violations. The report said that the government was still discussing a ministerial regulation on the sanctions for healthcare workers or formula producers and distributors who encourage mothers to not exclusively breast-feed newborns. According to the National Socio-Economic Survey (Susenas) 2004-2010, the percentage of exclusively breast-fed babies aged 6 months was 33.6 per cent in 2010, down from 34.3 per cent in 2009. -- BERNAMA