MONROVIA: The Joint Committee on Health, Ways, Means, Finance & Development Planning and Judiciary at the House of Representatives on Thursday, March 17, 2022 conducted a public hearing on a bill seeking the protection of baby food safety.
According to a press release from the Press and Public Affairs Bureau of the House, the hearing brought together stakeholders from the Ministry of Health, importers of breast milk, civil society institutions and UNICEF.
It can be recalled; Rivercess County Electoral District #2 Representative Byron Zahnwea in August 2021 submitted for enactment, a bill titled, “An Act to Amend the National Public Health Law, Chapter 51: Regulation for Making Goods and Other Products for Infants and Young Children, adding thereto Subsection 51.4(b).
The Lawmaker is seeking legislation to ensure the marketing of requisite substitutes for breast milk is properly regulated to avoid the import and sale of substances that might affect infants and young children across the country.
Making remarks at the opening of the hearing House’s Committee Chair on Health Representative Joseph Sonwarbi said if babies are not properly fed, you will find out that they will not develop the mental capacity appropriate to cope with learning challenges.
According to him, the protection of Liberian children is very key; stressing the need to regulate baby food coming into the country.
Speaking during the hearing, the Director of Nutrition at the Ministry of Health, Dr. Arane Brimah Davis recommended breastfeeding for the first six months of a baby’s life and thereafter adding solid food along with the breast milk until a baby is one year old.
For her part, Health Minister, Dr. Wilhelmina Jallah disclosed that over eighty-four countries around the world have enacted the law and Liberia is no exception. Dr. Jallah further pleaded for government’s support for the passage of the instrument.
Also speaking, UNICEF Representative Laila Gad stressed that the immediate passage of the bill will provide equal opportunity for every child. HOR/PRESS & PUBLIC AFFAIRS-MARCH 19, 2022
