Government urged to increase maternity leave for lactating mothers

Stakeholders in Maternal Health Care have appealed to government to increase the number of days for maternity leave for lactating mothers. 

They advocate the period should be increased from the current 12 weeks to 14 weeks for a start or six months as prescribed by International Labour Organisation, ILO. 

National Coordinator for Breastfeeding, Mrs Eunice Sackey, who spoke on behalf of the stakeholders at a media briefing in Accra, said the extension will encourage lactating mothers to exclusively breastfeed their babies. 

She added that the statistics on breastfeeding which is 52 percent as at 2014 is abysmal.

GBC