SEHA concludes annual awareness campaign to highlight the benefits of breastfeeding

(Abu Dhabi, UAE) - Abu Dhabi Health Services Company (SEHA), the UAE’s largest healthcare network, recently concluded its annual national Breastfeeding Week across its facilities, hosting a number of community activations raising the importance and benefits of breastfeeding for both mothers and their infants.

The week-long campaign promoted the importance of breastfeeding, with SEHA’s Corniche Hospital and Al Dhafra Hospital promoting and supporting mothers during their breastfeeding journeys. This year’s global theme is “Protect Breastfeeding: A Shared Responsibility”; focusing on how breastfeeding contributes to the survival, health and wellbeing of infants and mothers, and on the importance of educating and supporting breastfeeding worldwide.

Paul Bosio, Chief Medical Officer and Acting CEO at Corniche Hospital, said: “At Corniche Hospital, we aim to raise awareness among mothers about the benefits of breastfeeding, encouraging mothers to start breastfeeding their babies within the first hour of birth and continue exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months. We take pride in the expertise of our consultants team who are highly trained to support mothers facing challenges during their breastfeeding journey. Ninety per cent of mothers who delivered their babies at Corniche Hospital in 2021 were exclusively breastfeeding their babies at the time of being discharged.”

Kim Daisy, mother of 2-month-old Odetta said: “The main thing I realized on my breastfeeding journey is that every child is different. Despite all the different things I learned from the lactation consultants back home in the UK, I was not able to successfully breastfeed my first baby. On the other hand, my second child, Odetta, is always feeding. The challenges I had with breastfeeding included discomfort, infections, and pain, throughout the whole process. Through SEHA’s support, I was given an incredibly emotional support team who were supportive, encouraging, and calm throughout my experience. They were involved in diagnosing the infection and providing the right medication in order to enable me to continue breastfeeding.”

SEHA reports that breastmilk continues to provide important nutrients for infants as long as they continue breastfeeding. Babies who breastfeed into the second year and beyond are less likely to become overweight and they are able to fight off infections better and build a stronger immune system.

Dr. Saleema Wani, Obstetrics and Gynecology Consultant and Chair of Academic Affairs at Corniche Hospital, added: “Another aim of National Breastfeeding Week is to raise awareness on the many benefits for mothers. Breastfeeding helps a mother and her child produce oxytocin, the hormone that lowers stress and anxiety and makes us feel connected. In addition to this, research suggests that breastfeeding can reduce the mother’s risk of breast and ovarian cancer, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.”

Dr Ibrahim Hatab, Chief Nursing Officer at Al Dhafra Hospitals, added: “At Al Dhafra Hospitals, our highly-skilled teams have been trained to understand and educate about breastfeeding, resulting in our hospitals providing baby-friendly accredited maternity services. Through educating the many benefits of breastfeeding to mothers, we find this leads to better outcomes for both mother and baby.”

As part of the campaign, a number of activations were held across facilities for members of the community. This included workshops, community webinars, and community education events held in partnership with local universities.

Corniche Hospital is a well-established and trusted maternity and newborn hospital in Abu Dhabi. It is recognized by the WHO and United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) as a Mother-Baby-Friendly Hospital since 2008.

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