Luanda – The Health Ministry launched last Friday, in Luanda, the Breastfeeding Week, being celebrated by the 20th time all over the world, from 1 to 10 August.

The launching ceremony was chaired by the deputy minister of Health, Evelize Freitas, moments after the opening of the Angolan Women’s Fair and International Forum in Miramar ward.

 
According to the deputy minister, the global strategy for young child feeding is an initiative that was launched in 2002 by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), which outlines several goals towards the improvement of feeding practices and subsequent reduction of malnutrition and poverty.

 
“It is a topic based on human rights, which gives instructions on how to protect, promote and support breastfeeding during the first six months of life, after which, and until the children reach the age of two, they must be fed with appropriate food (…)”, explained the deputy minister.

The strategy, said the deputy minister of Health, aims to launch Point 4 of the Millennium Development Goals, which is the reduction of death rate of children aged 5 and below, about which Angola has been progressing satisfactorily.