The Food and Health Bureau (FHB) on Wednesday (June 1) convened the eighth meeting of the Committee on Promotion of Breastfeeding to review the progress and effectiveness of various measures for promoting and supporting breastfeeding, and discuss ways to step up the efforts in supporting breastfeeding and enhancing its sustainability.
During the meeting, representatives of the Department of Health (DH) and the Hospital Authority (HA) reported to members of the Committee the works of the Government to support breastfeeding in the past five years. These included, at the legislation level, amendments to the Sex Discrimination Ordinance which prohibits discrimination against and harassment towards breastfeeding women, the implementation of five-day statutory paternity leave and extension of statutory maternity leave from 10 to 14 weeks. In addition, the Government has imposed a mandatory requirement for the provision of babycare facilities and lactation rooms (LRs) in the sale conditions of government land sale sites for new commercial developments in 2017. As of April this year, the Government has included relevant clauses in the sale conditions in over 20 government land sales sites for new commercial developments, of which four sites have already been awarded to developer.
Corresponding measures have also been adopted by the Government to mandate the provision of babycare facilities and LRs in new Government premises. As of December last year, there were 360 babycare facilities in government properties. Furthermore, in order to foster a culture for a breastfeeding-friendly environment, the FHB and the DH have collaborated with the Hong Kong Committee for the United Nations Children's Fund to launch the "Say Yes to Breastfeeding" campaign since 2015, to allow lactating mothers to sustain breastfeeding in community-friendly environment. Over 1 300 workplaces and 470 premises have pledged to be breastfeeding-friendly in support of this campaign. The DH also issued guidelines for employers and employees in 2017 on the establishment of a breastfeeding-friendly workplace for reference by the public and corporations.
Professional support from healthcare institutions also helps enhance parents' awareness in assuring the benefits of breastfeeding. Among the eight public hospitals with labour wards under the HA, six of them have been accredited as Baby-Friendly Hospitals (BFHs), while such recognition for the remaining two hospitals will be completed next year. Regarding the Maternal and Child Health Centres (MCHCs) of the DH, three of them have already been acknowledged as Baby-Friendly MCHCs from July to August 2019, and the accreditation process for the other five has also commenced. The accreditation programme will be extended to all MCHCs by phases in future.
At the meeting, the Committee also discussed the community projects and researches relevant to breastfeeding, and inappropriate marketing practices for formula milk products targeting infants and young children. In 2019, the FHB subsidised the School of Nursing of the University of Hong Kong to conduct a community project for fostering breastfeeding-friendly environment and supporting lactating mothers. A mobile application named "Breastfeeding GPS" was developed under the Project to assist lactating mothers to locate some 430 babycare facilities across the city with the aid of the Global Positioning System (GPS).
The Committee was set up in April 2014 and chaired by the Under Secretary for Food and Health. Members include representatives from relevant healthcare professionals, representatives of the academia and organisations that have participated in promoting breastfeeding. The Committee is responsible for providing constructive recommendations and supervising the strategies and action plans which further strengthen the promotion, protection and support for breastfeeding, with a view to enhancing the sustainability of breastfeeding and advocating breastfeeding as the mainstream babycare mode which is widely accepted by the general public.
Comment