Training on Mothers Absolute Affection held in Longleng

DIMAPUR — A two-day district-level training on Mothers Absolute Affection (MAA) was held at the CMO conference hall in Longleng on September 8 and 9.

According to a press release issued by the CMO office, the training aimed to improve care for mothers and newborns.

The training covered topics such as production and intake of breastmilk, assessing and observing breastfeeding, positioning the baby at the breast while breastfeeding, breast conditions and expressing breastmilk, breastfeeding under special circumstances (HIV and IF, twins, and low birth weight), breastfeeding by working mothers, nutrition of lactating mothers and their health and fertility, hospital practices, and baby-friendly hospital initiatives.

Breastfeeding is an important child survival intervention, it stated, adding that breastfeeding within an hour of birth can prevent 20% of newborn deaths. It added that babies who are exclusively breastfed for the first six months of their lives are 11 times less likely to die from diarrhoea and 15 times less likely to die from pneumonia, the two leading causes of death in children under the age of five.

However, according to a recent survey (RSOC 2014), only 44.6 per cent of mothers in India initiate breastfeeding within one hour of birth, despite the fact that approximately 78.7 per cent of deliveries are in institutions. Furthermore, 64.9 per cent of babies are breastfed exclusively during the first six months of life.

Dr. Sanuzolu Jr., specialist (paediatrician), District Hospital Longleng, and Dr. Mongmei D Avennoho, MO, Bura Namsang, were the resource persons for the two-day training.

There were 15 participants in total, including GNM and ANM from PHC and CHC, respectively, under Longleng district, as well as senior nurses and ANMs from District Hospital Longleng.

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