Lactating mothers deserve 18 weeks maternity leave – Head of Breastfeeding Programme
Published:
3 months ago
Source:
3News
Madam Gifty Ampah
Managers of the National Breastfeeding Programme have reiterated calls for all employers to allow their employees to enjoy the benefits of maternity leave to the fullest. Although Ghana currently has 12 weeks as the maternity leave period, the Ghana Health Service (GHS) indicates that only 9% of women enjoy this benefit. Also, about 91% of women are estimated to be working in all kinds of spaces. Head of the National Breastfeeding Programme, Madam Gifty Ampah, in an interview with 3news implored Parliament and the Employment and Labor Ministry to look at the bill that seeks to increase the number of weeks for maternity leave. She wants the number of weeks to be increased a bit to help mothers achieve exclusive breast feeding for at least 6 months.
"We have a whole 91% of women who are working in all kinds of spaces, but are not given maternity leave. And so we want to encourage all corporate people to ensure that their women enjoy maternity leave and then when they come back, we make the necessary arrangements to support them to continue exclusively breastfeeding their children till the six months.