MoPH marks World Breastfeeding Week with awareness drive, events
Doha
The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) is intensifying efforts to raise awareness of the importance of breastfeeding during World Breastfeeding Week, observed globally from August 1 to 7. On this occasion, the MoPH launched an extensive awareness campaign on its social media sites, including publishing messages and videos about the importance of breastfeeding.
As part of its campaign, MoPH is organising a series of events and activities in collaboration with partners across the health sector. One key event was held at the MoPH headquarters, targeting public health sector employees. Attendees received information on maternal and infant nutrition, mental health, leave policies and entitlements for breastfeeding mothers, and had the opportunity to ask questions and engage directly with experts.
Another awareness event, conducted in partnership with the Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC), took place at Al Sadd Health Centre. It aimed to support mothers and encourage community participation in promoting optimal nutrition practices for infants and young children. The event welcomed pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, families, healthcare providers, and members of the public.
The MoPH is also working with Sidra Medicine to organise a dedicated event to further promote breastfeeding awareness and respond to questions from the public.
These efforts form part of a broader initiative by the MoPH and its partners to enhance maternal and child nutrition. Key programmes include the implementation of the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative, which encourages breastfeeding from the first moments after birth and aims to transform all maternal and child care facilities in Qatar into breastfeeding-friendly centres.
In addition, the MoPH is strengthening the capacity of health sector workers by offering training in breastfeeding support and promoting the sharing of best practices. These efforts align with the Ministry's overarching goal of protecting and improving the health of pregnant women, mothers, and their children.
Further initiatives include training medical professionals in the use of the World Health Organization (WHO) growth charts for children under five, which help in the early detection of malnutrition, including obesity, underweight, overweight, and stunting.
To support these efforts, the Nutrition Guidelines for the State of Qatar for Mother and Child (0–5 years) will soon be published in both Arabic and English. These guidelines provide evidence-based recommendations to support the health of mothers and children during the preconception, pregnancy, and early childhood stages.
World Breastfeeding Week is recognised as a key global platform for promoting breastfeeding. In 2018, a World Health Assembly resolution endorsed it as a vital strategy. Led by the WHO, UNICEF, ministries of health, and civil society partners worldwide, the week serves as a reminder to the public and policymakers alike that breastfeeding is fundamental to lifelong health and development.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Qatar Tribune
an hour ago
- Qatar Tribune
QRCS project set to provide medical care for patients with cancer in Syria
Tribune News Network Doha As part of its humanitarian efforts to alleviate the suffering of patients with cancer in Syria, Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) has launched a new project to provide costly chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and hormonal drugs for patients with cancer at oncology centres in northern Syria. The project responds to the significant gap in specialized health care services in northern Syria, exacerbated by the prolonged conflict and unaffordable prices of cancer drugs. Hopefully, it will help reduce mortality rates and health complications among patients with cancer and ease the burden on local health care facilities by reducing the need to refer patients for treatment abroad. Under the project, essential cancer drugs such as chemotherapy and immunotherapy, will be supplied, distributed, and examined for quality in coordination with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the health directorates in Idlib and Aleppo. These supplies are expected to directly benefit 112 patients with cancer over the five-month period, in addition to 560 indirect beneficiaries from the families of patients and the local community. In a statement, Mohamed Bader Al-Sada, assistant secretary-general for Relief and International Development at QRCS, said, 'Given the high mortality rates and limited resources, there remains a need for more support to address the gap and provide early detection and treatment services for various types of cancer'. Al-Sada revealed preparations for a new project to provide chemotherapy and immunotherapy drugs for 400 displaced and poor patients with cancer at oncology centres in Syria. He called on the benevolent donors to lend a hand in creating a new hope for patients with cancer, by donating via the project's webpage ( or calling the home donation collection number (33998898). 'A donation of just QR10,000 can save the life of a patient, after years of suffering and pain from cancer,' he emphasized. This intervention builds on a previous project, implemented by QRCS in 2024, to provide drugs and medical supplies for more than 900 patients with cancer. It also involved supporting cancer treatment centres with medical equipment and training for health care personnel. Cancer in Syria continues to be a significant public health concern, exacerbated by years of conflict and its impact on health care infrastructure and access to treatment. Despite efforts to rebuild and strengthen cancer care services, shortages of essential medications, limited access to specialized treatment facilities, and lack of comprehensive cancer screening programs remain major challenges.
Qatar Tribune
a day ago
- Qatar Tribune
QC's multi-service centre in Chad to benefit over 10,000 people
Tribune News Network Doha With support from philanthropists in Qatar, Qatar Charity (QC) has inaugurated a multi-service centre in a neighbourhood in the Chadian capital, N'Djamena. This centre, the first of its kind in the region in terms of comprehensiveness and diversity of services, aims to promote local development and provide essential services to residents. More than 10,000 people are expected to benefit from it. The opening ceremony was attended by local dignitaries, officials, representatives from the Ministries of Health and Education, and the region's deputy governor. This project is part of QC's ongoing efforts to support vulnerable communities in Chad through sustainable development initiatives that have a long-term impact on people's lives. Built on an area of 664 square metres, the centre features a six-classroom school set to open in the next academic year, helping to reduce school dropout rates and promote access to basic education. It also houses a modern health clinic offering primary care services such as maternity care, medical examinations, nursing, vaccinations, a pharmacy, laboratory tests, and inpatient rooms, aiming to improve preventive and therapeutic healthcare in an area lacking such vital facilities. The centre further includes a mosque accommodating 120 worshippers, complete with restrooms and ablution areas, providing a comfortable space for worship while strengthening community bonds. A deep solar-powered well ensures access to clean drinking water, and landscaped green spaces enhance the environment. Local officials praised QC's role in advancing local development and delivering essential services. Al-Rakhis Abkar Barma, deputy mayor of the First District of N'Djamena, expressed his gratitude for the initiative, noting that the centre's diverse facilities would transform education, healthcare and water access in the area. He extended special thanks to the project's donors in Qatar for their generosity and commitment to improving lives. Al-Rakhis Abkar Barma, deputy mayor of the First District of the capital, N'Djamena, said, 'I extend my sincere thanks to Qatar Charity for its development efforts in establishing this centre, which is the first of its kind in this region. Thousands of residents will benefit from its extensive services in several areas, which are expected to make a difference in their lives and the lives of their families. I also extend my thanks to the project's donors, the charitable people of Qatar, for their generous contributions.'
Al Jazeera
3 days ago
- Al Jazeera
Famine kills nearly 200 in Gaza amid ‘apocalyptic' battle for survival
Gaza health authorities say nearly 200 people, including 96 children, have died of hunger in Gaza, as the starving population battles against the odds to get food from dangerous airdrops and deadly aid hubs run by the GHF. As Israel's man-made famine under the ongoing blockade tightened its grip on the enclave, hospitals recorded four more deaths from 'famine and malnutrition' on Thursday – two of them children – bringing the total to 197. Amid the mounting death toll, World Health Organization (WHO) director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that about 12,000 children younger than five were suffering from acute malnutrition in July – the highest monthly figure ever recorded. The scenes in Gaza City are 'apocalyptic', said Al Jazeera's Ibrahim al-Khalili, with hundreds of people scrambling for scraps from aid pallets airdropped among the rubble of destroyed buildings. 'Here the fight is not over food, but for survival,' he said. Mustafa Tanani, a displaced Palestinian at the scene, said that some of the food had failed to land and was 'hanging up high' between the buildings, making it 'too risky' to try to reach. 'It's like a battle here. We come from far away and end up with nothing,' he said. 'Everyone is carrying bags of aid, and we don't even manage to get anything. The planes are dropping aid for nothing. Look where they threw it. Up there, between the buildings. It's dangerous for us,' he said. Children at risk Two children died of hunger in Gaza on Thursday, including a two-year-old girl in the al-Mawasi area, according to Nasser Hospital. Raising the alarm over chronic child malnutrition, the United Nations said that its partners were able to reach only 8,700 of the 290,000 children under age five who desperately needed food and nutritional supplements. Amjad Shawa, the head of the NGO Network in Gaza, told Al Jazeera Arabic that at least 200,000 children in the Gaza Strip suffer from severe malnutrition, with many deaths caused by a lack of baby formula and nutritional supplements under Israel's blockade, in place since March. Gaza's Government Media Office said that only 92 aid trucks entered the enclave on Wednesday, far less than the 500-600 that the United Nations estimates are needed daily to meet basic needs. Most of the aid that did make it in was prevented from reaching its intended recipients due to widespread 'looting and robbery', as a result of 'deliberate security chaos' orchestrated by Israel, said the office. 'Orchestrated killing' As the hunger crisis deepened, Doctors Without Borders, better known by its French-language acronym MSF, called for the closure of the notorious US- and Israeli-backed GHF, which runs deadly aid hubs where more than 1,300 Palestinians have been killed trying to reach food. The NGO published a report on Thursday featuring testimony from front-line staff that Palestinians were being deliberately targeted at the sites, which they said amounted to 'orchestrated killing and dehumanisation', not humanitarian aid. MSF operates two healthcare centres – al-Mawasi and al-Attar clinics – in direct proximity to GHF sites in southern Gaza, which received 1,380 casualties within seven weeks, treating 71 children for gunshot wounds, 25 of whom were under the age of 15. 'In MSF's nearly 54 years of operations, rarely have we seen such levels of systematic violence against unarmed civilians,' said the report. MSF patient Mohammed Riad Tabasi told Al Jazeera he had seen 36 people killed in the space of 10 minutes at a GHF site. 'It was unbearable,' he said. 'War is one thing, but this … aid distribution is another. We've never been humiliated like this.' Deadly strikes As the population battled for survival, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Fox News his country intended to take military control of all of Gaza. On Thursday, Israel continued to launch deadly air strikes on residential areas, killing at least 22 people. In Deir el-Balah, Al Jazeera's Tareq Abu Azzoum reported that a strike on the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza killed five civilians. An attack on the municipality of Bani Suheila, east of southern Gaza's Khan Younis city, killed at least two people, according to a source from Nasser Hospital. Six others were killed in earlier attacks in the Khan Younis area. One child died while attempting to retrieve airdropped aid there. In northern Gaza's Jabalia, at least one person was killed, according to a local medical source. Palestine's Wafa news agency reported several deadly attacks in Gaza City, one targeting a tent in the city's Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood that killed at least six people. The second attack targeted a separate residential area in the city, killing a woman and injuring others, said Wafa. 'Israel's military escalation continues without any sign of abating. And civilians are still bearing the brunt of this conflict,' said Abu Azzoum. Israel's war on Gaza has killed at least 61,258 people.
