Having a baby comes with its own share of stress and uncertainty and even worse when you have to deal with a pandemic.
In the recent past, at least 17 vaccines have been given emergency use authorisation by the World Health Organization but the decision on whether to have the vaccines has always been another headache.
Pregnant and breastfeeding mothers were not included in any of the clinical trials for Covid-19 vaccines hence as countries began to vaccinate eligible adults, lactating women were left in the dark.
In Kenya, lactating women have been turned away from vaccination posts and told the vaccine is not to be administered to breastfeeding mothers.
Among the reasons was the lack of data to support the inoculation of breastfeeding mothers.
But in the latest advisory by the WHO, breastfeeding women are advised to go for the AstraZeneca vaccine like any other adults.
The global health agency says even though data are not available on the potential benefits or risks of the vaccine to breastfed children, the AZ vaccine is not a live virus vaccine hence it is biologically and clinically unlikely to pose a risk to the breastfeeding child.
“Breastfeeding offers substantial health benefits to breastfeeding women and their breastfed children. Vaccine effectiveness is expected to be similar in breastfeeding women as in other adults,” the WHO advisory says.
“WHO does not recommend discontinuing breastfeeding because of vaccination,” it adds.
Kenya joins more than 120 countries in marking the World Breastfeeding Week that runs from August 1 to August 7.
This year’s theme is, ‘Protect breastfeeding: A shared responsibility'. The day is marked annually across the world every first week of August to spread awareness about its importance.
Data from the Health Ministry shows that early initiation and exclusive breastfeeding rates are at 62 and 61 per cent respectively while only 22 per cent consume the minimum acceptable diet.
WHO and Unicef recommend that an infant must be breastfed within an hour of birth and should continue at least for the first six months of life.
“Breastfeeding helps children combat infectious diseases, decreases incidences of severity of diarrhoea, lowers respiratory infections, prevents dental caries,” Head of the Department of Family Health at the ministry Bashir Isaak said.
“Five in 10 children die due to malnutrition. Poor breastfeeding and complementary feeding contribute 19 per cent of those deaths,” nutrition officer, Division of Nutrition and Dietetics at the ministry, Rose Wambu, said.
Globally, only 41 per cent of all babies below six months of age are exclusively breastfed and only 45 per cent continue breastfeeding up to 24 months of age.
A decline in continued breastfeeding is noted with an increase in age at 90 per cent for children up to one year and 53 per cent at two years.
The ministry notes that the availability and marketing of milk substitutes worsen the situation, especially in the face of rapid urbanisation in the country, thus the need for increased investment and concerted actions to enhance protection, promotion and support for breastfeeding.
Edited by Henry Makori