Manipal College of Nursing and Kasturba Medical College, Manipal Celebrated World Breastfeeding Week 2020

The Department of Child Health Nursing, Obstetrics and Gynaecological (OBG) Nursing and  Community Health Nursing, Manipal College of Nursing (MCON) Manipal and Department of Paediatric Kasturba Medical College, Manipal, MAHE observed ‘World Breastfeeding Week’ from 1st to 7th August 2020 on the theme “Support Breastfeeding for a Healthier Planet- Covid 19 is an opportunity to strengthen action on breastfeeding”.

The status of breastfeeding practices in India needs immediate attention as rate of initiation of breastfeeding within one hour of birth is 57% while exclusive breastfeeding rate remains about 58%. Hence, Breastfeeding Promotion Network of India (BPNI) calls for action to generate awareness among people about the protective role of breastfeeding. Keeping this in mind and to raise awareness regarding the importance of breastfeeding, various activities were conducted through virtual platform for the nurses and faculty members from India and abroad and the general public.

The various activities planned and conducted are as follows:

Capacity Building Webinar on Infant and Young Child Feeding

A Capacity Building Webinar on “Infant and Young Child Feeding” was organized by the Department of Child Health Nursing, Manipal College of Nursing, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal on 4th August 2020, 2.30 to 5.00 pm.

Dr Baby S Nayak, Professor and Head of the Department of Child Health Nursing, Manipal College of Nursing, Manipal welcomed the resource persons, participants and addressed the virtual gathering.

The first session on “Support Breastfeeding for a Healthier Planet” was discoursed by Dr Leslie Edward Lewis, Professor of Pediatrics, Kasturba Medical College, Manipal. Dr Leslie highlighted on the science behind breastfeeding and climate change. Therefore, breastfeeding should be promoted and formula milk should be discouraged.

The second session on “Breast feeding and Covid 19: Indian Perspectives” was delivered by Dr C.R Banapurmath, Professor of Pediatrics, J.J.M Medical College, Davangere. Dr Banapurmath is a national trainer of Infant and Young Child Feeding and Karnataka State Coordinator of Breastfeeding Promotion Network of India, and therefore the most fitting person to talk about the Indian context of Breastfeeding and Covid-19 which is very apt given the current global pandemic situation. Through his talk he conveyed an important message of WHO’s recommendation of breastfeeding irrespective of COVID status of mothers and stated that there’s inconclusive current evidence about vertical transmission of the COVID-19 virus from mothers who are COVID positive to their newborns.

Followed by that, a session on “Infant and Young Child Feeding in the context of Covid-19” was taken by Mrs Yashoda S, Assistant Professor-Senior Scale at Manipal College of Nursing, Manipal who is also a certified Infant and Young Child Feeding counsellor. She highlighted on the guidelines of Infant and Young Child Feeding including breastfeeding and complementary feeding and the key considerations to be followed during Covid 19.

Following each session, participants actively participated by raising questions and resource persons answered those questions.

The webinar successfully ended with closing remarks by Dr Anice George, Dean of Manipal College of Nursing and vote of thanks to the resource persons, all the participants and organizing team of the webinar.

The session was conducted as a live webinar in Microsoft Teams and was attended by 420 participants including students, nurses and teaching faculty from within MAHE and various institutions across the country India and abroad.

The webinar was coordinated by Mrs. Binu Margaret and Mrs. Anjalin Dsouza from Department of Child Health Nursing, MCON Manipal.

Symposium on Support Breastfeeding for a Healthier Planet:

To sensitize the students of Manipal College of Nursing and the staff nurses of Kasturba Hospital Manipal on the importance of breastfeeding, a Symposium on “Support Breastfeeding for a Healthier Planet” was organized on 5th August 2020, from 2.30 pm to 5.00 pm through Microsoft team’s virtual platform.

Dr Mamatha S Pai, Professor, Dept. of Child Health Nursing delivered the first session on  “Support Breastfeeding for a Healthier Planet” and highlighted on the theme, optimal infant feeding, importance of breastfeeding, early initiation of breastfeed, disadvantages of artificial feeding and breastfeeding concerns during Covid 19. Mrs Binu Margaret, Assistant Professor- Selection Grade, Dept. of Child Health Nursing delivered the second session on the production and intake of breast milk, positioning, attachment and expression of breast milk. The third session was discoursed by Mrs Anjalin D’Souza, Assistant Professor- Selection Grade, Dept. of Child Health Nursing on Breast conditions and she highlighted different breast conditions with examples and their management.

The participants clarified their doubts in the question and answer session and expressed that the sessions were useful and beneficial. The session was attended by 105 students and staff nurses.

Community awareness through FM Radio/Social media

To reach out and promote awareness to a wider range of public, a community awareness through a radio talk in the form of role play in local language (Tulu) was conducted by Mrs. Yashoda, Assistant Professor- Senior Scale, Dept. of Child Health Nursing, Dr Maria Pais, Assistant Professor - Senior Scale, Dept. of OBG Nursing and Mrs Reshma R Kotian, Lecturer, Dept. of Community Health Nursing, MCON, Manipal on the theme ‘Support Breast feeding for a Healthier Planet’. The programme was recorded on 5^th August 2020 and was broadcasted on 7^th August, 2020 at Radio FM 90.4 MHz. The programme was well appreciated by the public.

To create awareness to a wider range of public, articles in newspaper regarding breastfeeding and its importance were written in the local language by Mrs. Yashoda S, Assistant Professor- Senior Scale, Dept. of Child Health Nursing and Dr Sonia RB Dsouza, HOD, Dept. of  OBG Nursing, MCON, Manipal.  

      The World Breastfeeding Week 2020 events were coordinated by Mrs Binu Margaret and Mrs Anjalin DSouza of Department of Child Health Nursing, Dr Maria Pais and Mrs Shoba from Department of OBG Nursing and Mrs Reshma from Department of Community Health Nursing, MCON, Manipal.

Mothers should be continually empowered and an enriched environment should be provided for the success of the breastfeeding, which would help to achieve the targets of the health indicators. 

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