That women's working conditions influence breastfeeding is not something new, but today we want to highlight a recent study that has investigated to what extent national strategies that guarantee breastfeeding permits for working women could facilitate breastfeeding.
The conclusions of the investigation, carried out for the member countries of the United Nations, indicate that the percentage of women who practice exclusive breastfeeding was higher in the countries in which the laws guarantee nursing leave at work.
Specifically, according to the data provided by this study, guaranteed paid breastfeeding permits for at least six months were associated with an increase of 8.86 percentage points in the exclusive breastfeeding rate.
The study, titled "Breastfeeding policies: a global comparative analysis" ("Breastfeeding policy: a globally comparative analysis") has been published in the latest WHO newsletter and conducted by researchers at the University of California and Brandeis.
An analysis of the number of countries that guarantee breastfeeding permits, the guaranteed daily number of hours and the duration of those permits has been carried out. Both the original legislation and secondary sources of 182 of the 193 Member States of the United Nations were examined and in this way, current and detailed information on national strategies has been collected.
Regression analysis was also carried out to examine the association between the national strategy and exclusive breastfeeding rates, while taking into account the national income level, urbanization level, female literacy rate and the percentage of women among the active population.
As you can see in this map taken from the study, Paid breastfeeding permits are guaranteed in 130 countries (71%). Seven countries (4%) guarantee unpaid breastfeeding permits and many countries in which there is no strategy on breastfeeding (45 countries, 25%).
The authors point out that if these conclusions were confirmed by new studies, it would be possible to improve health outcomes through the approval of legislation on breastfeeding permits in those countries that still do not guarantee the right to breastfeeding.
Of course, that would require an awareness of the importance of feeding the baby with breast milk, not only for the health of the child but for the economy of the country, businesses and families.
It is shocking to see how in so many countries there is no legislation in this regard, leaving mothers and children unprotected, and considering that the study has been based on the member countries of the United Nations, I fear that those figures without breastfeeding strategies will skyrocket if we consider the rest of the countries.
