Win for mothers

 HEALTH Secretary Pascoe Kase will push for mothers working for the department to be allocated rooms to breastfeed their babies. 

This was one of the outcomes from the “exclusive breastfeeding” campaign that was launched on Wednesday. 

The campaign is expected to be rolled out to all health facilities during the PNG Health Week next week.

“I am appealing to other government departments and public institutions to follow likewise in ensuring a conducive environment for working mothers that are breastfeeding,” Kase said.

“As a department, we should push for policy adjustment on maternity and breastfeeding leave as specified in General Orders 14.”

Kase told representatives from development partners, technical officers from his department and the news media that he was happy to propose the change. 

“I have asked our office allocation committee to allocate a room specifically for mothers to breastfeed as the benefits far outweigh the intervention programmes we have in protecting the health of children and mothers. We must take a leading role.”

Kase emphasised the need to also educate working mothers about the importance of breast milk in growing a healthy working population.

He said breastfeeding was the most cost-effective way in protecting the health of the baby and reducing the high incidence of infant mortality rate in PNG.

“As a nation, we should all be working together to improve the current rate of 30% exclusive breastfeeding to 60% or more,” he said. 

The Health Department employs more than 2,000 workers, of which fewer than 50% are female staff. 

The public service general orders allowes female officers two hours each day for six months to breastfeed. 

Leave granted under this provision is with full pay and does not affect continuity of service.