UNICEF Calls on Iraq's Mothers to Breast-Feed

BAGHDAD, Aug. 13, 2007 — -- With severe heat and water shortages still plaguing much of Iraq, UNICEF is warning women here with young children to take precautions.

The global aid agency is calling on mothers to exclusively breast-feed babies — rather than use infant formula — to help prevent dangerous waterborne diseases and improve nutrition.

The combination of heat, unsafe water and unhygienic conditions in many of Iraq's cities and temporary camps could spark a diarrhea outbreak in very young children, causing dehydration, malnutrition and possibly even death, the agency warns.

UNICEF estimates that more than 1 million babies were born in Iraq over the last 12 months, at least 40,000 of them to displaced families living in squalid refugee camps.

Iraq's countrywide policy of distributing free infant formula for all infants is still in place, but Roger Wright, UNICEF's representative for Iraq, called that policy a "recipe for disaster in current conditions" because the formula is likely to be prepared using unsafe water.

"Dehydration resulting from diarrhea caused by contaminated water and poor sanitation is already Iraq's biggest killer of young children," said Wright.

Iraq's Ministry of Health estimates that just 25 percent of Iraqi infants younger than 6 months are exclusively breast-fed. Dr. Kadhim Nidhal, manager of the breast-feeding program at the Ministry of Health in Baghdad, called the figure "worryingly low" and said that the free distribution of infant formula "is a negative factor in contributing to these low rates," because it discourages breast-feeding.

"Breast milk is the best possible nourishment for these children," said Nidhal. "Mothers must not risk any other food or additional water for their young babies."

Newborns of displaced mothers living in temporary shelters or abandoned buildings are at particularly high risk from diarrhea, aid officials here said. In the Najaf province, where up to 50,000 displaced people are living in temporary camps, diarrhea rates are twice the seasonal average, according to the Ministry of Health. Unsafe water and poor sanitation are to blame for almost 90 percent of Iraq's diarrhea cases, the ministry estimates.

Though exclusive breast-feeding for infants has long been common in many Western countries, less than half of mothers in the Middle East and North Africa regions engage in the practice, a 2005 UNICEF study showed.

Only in Syria and Egypt are more than 50 percent of women exclusively breast-feeding, according to the report. The World Health Organization recommends that mothers in developing countries breast-feed their children between 4 months and 6 months to ensure proper nourishment and disease prevention.

The World Health Organization estimates that about 1.5 million children die every year because they are inappropriately fed and that less than 35 percent of infants worldwide are exclusively breast-fed for the first four months of life.

Power Woes

Power issues are adding to the problem here. In Baghdad, some parts of the capital have been without properly running water and power for more than a week, compounding the misery in a war zone and the blistering heat of summer. Temperatures routinely hover around 120 degrees in August, and even those who can afford air conditioning do not have the power to run it.

Residents and city officials said large sections in the west of the capital had been virtually dry for days because the already strained electricity grid isn't providing sufficient power to run water purification and pumping stations. The problem underscores the larger difficulties in a capital beset by violence and rampant crime.

Though Iraq has been unsettled by violence since the American-led invasion began more than five years ago, living without clean water and power is still new to many families here.

"Unlike in many places in Africa, for example, everyday Iraqis are still accustomed to having running water and electricity in their homes," said UNICEF spokeswoman for the region, Claire Hajaj. She said before the war, 79 percent of Iraqis had running water and power.

"If you are living in Iraq now the situation is much different and mothers sometimes forget that they may be without proper running water for weeks," she said.

UNICEF is urging new mothers, particularly those in camps, to follow the global guidelines for feeding infants and young children, which calls for exclusive breast-feeding for the first six months and then continued breast-feeding with appropriate complementary foods until 2 years old.

Breast-feeding should start within the first hour of life to give the maximum possible benefit to babies and stimulate the production of breast milk. This act alone has the potential to prevent 16 percent of newborn deaths, UNICEF said.

The aid agency is calling on Iraq's government to reinforce national compliance with the International Code on Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes. It's also urging Iraq's communities to give new mothers special care and support to help them breast-feed successfully.

"Exclusive breast-feeding is the single most powerful means of protecting the health of Iraqi babies during this time of crisis," said Wright, UNICEF's representative for Iraq.