Simple idea quickly turns into a mass logistics project

Heavy responsibility: Putri with her two-year-old daughter.

PETALING JAYA: It started off as a simple idea to ensure urban poor newborns get the right nutrition in the most cost-effective way but the project has quickly turned into a mass logistics project for a small team of experts.

Arba Foundation CEO Azlan Shah Nabees Khan, a former sya­riah banker, said he first came upon the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) report on malnutrition among urban poor children under five years old and wanted to help.

“We first thought of providing breast pumps to help the B40 mo­thers when they get back to work, but after speaking to lactation experts, they advised us to advocate breastfeeding and provide nutrition and counselling to the mothers in the low-cost flats,” said 30-year-old Azlan, a father of three.

Dr Zaharah Sulaiman, a medical doctor-turned-lecturer in Universiti Sains Malaysia Hospital in Kelantan, agreed that this was better than providing breast pumps which might be chucked aside by mothers who find it a chore.

Dr Zaharah is a qua­lified lactation consultant in the country.

She is also the local governance coordinator with World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action, which is a global network which works closely with Unicef.

The Health Ministry has yet to acknowledge the lactation counsellors and consultants formally al­­though hospitals do engage them to encourage mothers who have just given birth to breastfeed.

Dr Zaharah said emotional support and encouragement played a very big role in the production of breast milk.

Another expert involved in the project is lactation counsellor and medical doctor, Dr Ning Desi Yanti, 49, who is also part of Breastfeeding Peer Counsellor Association.

Dr Ning will be involved with Dr Zaharah in training the 150 lactation counsellors who will en­gage with the mothers upon their deli­very.

“We have always had peer counsellors for mothers in confinement, but it used to be within the extended family and close friends,” she said.

“With the change in living patterns of the urban poor where many mothers have to go through confinement on their own, there is a need for lactation counsellors who can give the right kind of advice to encourage proper nutrition habits and breastfeeding to bond with the newborns.”

Both lactation experts said the success of the pilot project would be a tangible one.

Azlan said although the incentive for the mothers to breastfeed was a mere RM100 per month, he believed that this was just a beginning to break the cycle of malnourishment among children of the urban poor.

“An extra RM100 coupled with sound counselling and advice will go a long way for these mothers in the B40 group to make the right choice.

“This is the health of our future generation,” said Azlan, pointing out that malnourishment would lead to underperformance and possibly dropping out of schools, a major problem in low-cost flats.

Data from the project will be re­corded from the 500 mothers and 150 lactation counsellors as well as other parties involved in the project.

This data will be used to gauge whether the project should be extended nationwide.