Hong Kong authorities missed an ideal opportunity to promote the benefits of breastfeeding when fears of a shortage of milk formula arose in March because of a ban on imports from Japan following its nuclear crisis, a nutrition expert said.
'It was an excellent opportunity to tell women to stop relying on milk formulas,' Dr Luca Tommaso Cavalli-Sforza said. 'In fact, they do not need these products for the whole course of raising their children.'
The rate of breastfeeding in Hong Kong is growing, but it is still behind some of its Asian neighbours. About 77 per cent of new mothers try breastfeeding, a sharp increase from 50 per cent in 1997, the latest Department of Health figures show. But only 14 per cent continue breastfeeding for six months or more. That contrasts sharply with the situation in Cambodia, where 97 per cent of women try breastfeeding and 73.5 per cent continue for six months or more.
Cavalli, the World Health Organisation's adviser on nutrition in the Western Pacific, said 77 per cent of new mothers trying breastfeeding was not a bad performance for Hong Kong, where the practice had never been common. But to ensure more continued the habit for the long term, at least 95-99 per cent of women should have tried breastfeeding by the time they left hospital, he said.
The WHO recommends that all children be breastfed for six months to two years, and scientific studies suggest breastfed children grow up to be healthier and stronger adults.
'When children are malnourished before the age of two, they will stay malnourished for the rest of their lives,' Cavalli said.