Paul KeenanArchbishop responds to WHO report
Breastfeeding in the workplace should be defended by inclusion in employment law, an archbishop has told a major gathering on healthcare.
Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski, president of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers made his comments to the 67th World Health Assembly, which is meeting in Geneva, Switzerland from May 19 to 24.
“Breastfeeding is a major protection against early child malnutrition and should therefore be protected, promoted as part of primary healthcare,” the archbishop stated. “It should be guaranteed by laws governing workplace practice and there should be acceptance for breastfeeding even in public.”
In his address, Archbishop Zimowski went on to reference Pope Francis, who at a Baptism ceremony in the Sistine Chapel in January encouraged mothers “to overcome hesitation of breastfeeding their children when they are hungry”.
The archbishop’s words were a response to a World Health Organisation Report on the benefits of breastfeeding which was delivered at the assembly.