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Bilingual web site to focus on breastfeeding

DUBAI — The Ministry of Health (MoH) will soon launch a bilingual (Arabic and English) web site to offer guidance to nursing mothers on how to properly feed their children.

Following recommendations of the World Health Organisation (WHO), the MoH has developed a national policy on feeding children under a programme titled ‘Mother and Child Programme.’

The programme suggests that all babies should be breastfed for at least six months. After six months, breast milk should be complemented with appropriate solid foods while breastfeeding should continue well into the second year of a child’s life and for longer, if possible.

Details of the project were discussed at a meeting held this week between the UAE Minister of Health Humaid Mohammed Obaid Al Qutami and representatives of Johnson & Johnson, said Nasir Al Badoor, Assistant Undersecretary in MoH for International Relations and Health. “The minister has underlined the importance of caring for the mother and the child’s health and educating her on the basis of the fact that the health of the society begins from the primary healthcare of women and children,” he said.

Among the steps being taken to set up the web site, a locally based company in health and behavioural education will prepare educational material and get them translated into English so that information is available for national and expatriate mothers, he noted.