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By Toheeb Idris

Wellbeing Foundation Africa WBFA, Medela Cares’ Switzerland recently said their programmes in various Intensive Care Units of Hospitals in Nigeria were to end preventable deaths of newborns and children under five years of age.

Disclosing this during a visit of the Medela Cares team from Switzerland to the Hospitals in Lagos, Kwara and Abuja the Founder and President, of WBFA and WHO Foundation Ambassador for Global Health, Mrs Toyin Saraki, pointed out that ensuring new mothers are wholly supported to breastfeed is not only critical for the health and wellbeing of the baby but also linked to all 17 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Saraki further disclosed that by combining innovation, technology and people that are passionately dedicated to a mission, the WBFA in partnership with Medela Cares is committed to supporting members of the UN Global Compact and the UN’s Every Woman Every Child (EWEC)), as we protect, promote and uphold breastfeeding standards as well as the appropriate use of human milk.

Speaking, Head, Global Medical Affairs and Education, Medela Cares, Dr Nania Schärer-Hernández, said: “Being on the ground in Nigeria helped us assess lactation care in the exact framework of the circumstances and understand what is going on and what can be done to improve Neonatal outcomes. I am extremely happy to be part of such an amazing project that aims to change neonatal outcomes in Nigeria.”

Schärer-Hernández was in the company of Sioned Hilton, Global Medical Affairs of Medela Cares which has its headquarters in Baar, Switzerland, and a U.S.-based manufacturing and development facility in McHenry, Illinois.

The team also paid a courtesy visit to the NICU, Labour and Postnatal Wards to interact with the mothers and healthcare workers to gain insights into their activities on breastmilk initiation, breastfeeding rates and the data collection and management process of the project.

On her part, Chief Executive, Medela worldwide, Annette Brüls added: “We are honoured to support the Wellbeing Foundation Africa. Thank you for your leadership and passion for improving health in Nigeria”.

The visit also featured presentations by Dr Nania Schärer-Hernández, and Sioned Hilton to healthcare workers, Data Assistants and the participating hospital’s management on important aspects of the project such as ‘Time-to-first expression, ‘Frequency of expression in all infants’, ‘Time to milk ‘coming in,’ ‘Coming to volume’, ‘Proportion of daily feeds’, and ‘Breastfeeding rates in NICU’.

Recently, WBFA, Kwara donated one additional breast pump to the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH) which was received by the Chief Medical Director, Prof. Yusuf DaSilva, the HOD of Paediatrics, Dr Adesiyun Omotayo in Kwara state and CMD, Dr Omololu Olufemi while reiterating the hospital’s commitment to the continued success of the Medela Lactation Project at the Hospitals. An additional breast pump donation is scheduled to be made to the Lagos Island Maternity Hospital (LIMH) by the end of July.