DW BUREAU / Chandigarh

Under the guidance of Health and Family Welfare Minister Arti Singh Rao, the National Health Mission (NHM), Haryana, observed 1-7th August as 'World Breastfeeding Week' with the theme 'Invest in Breast Feeding, Invest in Future' to highlight the importance of breastfeeding and to protect, promote and support breastfeeding for improvement in the health of babies and mothers across the state.

Health Minister Arti Singh Rao said the campaign is aimed at ensuring that every mother has access to the necessary support and information to breastfeed for as long as she chooses.

The state has implemented Mother Absolute Affection (MAA) programme since 2016 to intensify the efforts for promotion of early initiation of the breastfeeding. "On 29th July, MAA programme training was imparted to district nodal officers involving the expert from medical colleges. On 5th August, 2025, a webinar was held in coordination with PGIMER Chandigarh in which the medical officers from Sick Neonatal Care Unit (SNCU) /Community Health Centre (CHC) /Primary Health Centre (PHC) were oriented and trained.

Special one-to-one counselling session was held at facilities level such as SNCU and Postnatal wards for involving mothers and caregivers in early initiation and exclusive breastfeeding," she said.

In all, 28,392 House-to-House visits were conducted by ASHA workers for supporting and promoting early initiation of breastfeeding. At 439 delivery points, dedicated nodal officers were appointed to ensure that early initiation of breastfeeding, support and counselling was conducted. 84,599 mothers, which includes pregnant women and lactating mothers, were counselled for early initiation of breast feeding and exclusive breast feeding.

Extensive mass media activities such as advertisement in print media, social media creatives and press releases were given for creating mass awareness regarding benefits of breastfeeding.

The minister said the state has also taken the initiative of establishing the comprehensive lactation management unit at PGIMS-Rohtak and 5 Lactation Management Units (LMU) are functional at Sub Divisional Hospital (SDH) Jagadhari, and at General Hospital (GH) Mewat, Ambala Cantt, Ambala City and Panchkula.

(editor@dailyworld.in)