The Regional Nutrition Committee (RNC) encourages local government units in the Cordillera to organize breastfeeding support groups to strengthen the implementation of the infant and young child feeding program.

The RNC formalized their call to LGUs through a resolution.

Nutrition Officer III Bella Basalong said the program aims to improve the health and nutritional status of infants and young children through appropriate breastfeeding and complementary feeding and contribute to the reduction of infant and child mortality and morbidity.

One of the strategies in promoting the program in the community is the organization of breastfeeding support groups as specified in the Philippines infant and child feeding program strategic plan of action for 2011-2016, Basalong said.

A breastfeeding support group is composed of peer counselors organized in the community or other settings such as workplace to provide support either to individual or groups of pregnant women and mothers with children zero to two years old in the form of individual or group counseling, wet nursing, child minding and other practical help to enable the adoption of appropriate infant and child feeding practices.

The breastfeeding support group will also identify target mothers and children, conduct home visits, counsel mothers or caregivers, and refer mothers needing clinical management or treatment.

Basedon the 2011 Family Health Survey conducted by the National Statistics Office, nearly half of mothers in the Cordillera or 49.2 percent of mothers are exclusively breastfeeding their babies. Though it is the highest among all regions, the percentage is still low, Basalong said. Maria Aprila W. Cruz.