World Breastfeeding Week

Breastfeeding is one of the most effective ways to ensure a child’s health and survival. However, fewer than half of infants under six months of age are exclusively breastfed.

During World Breastfeeding Week, which occurs in the first week of August each year, the nutrition, health, and community teams at the Independent Doctors Association participated in an international campaign to raise awareness about the importance of breastfeeding. The campaign carries the slogan, “Let’s make breastfeeding and work, work!”

Throughout the campaign, our staff focused on the role of breast milk, which serves as the ideal food for infants. It is safe, clean, and contains antibodies that help prevent many common childhood diseases. Mother’s milk provides the infant with all the energy and nutrients needed during the first months of life. Moreover, it continues to fulfill nearly half or more of the child’s nutritional requirements during the second half of the first year and up to a third during the second year.

Among the vital information regarding breastfeeding is that breastfed children achieve better results in intelligence tests, are less likely to be overweight or obese, and have a reduced likelihood of developing diabetes in later years. Additionally, breastfeeding decreases the incidence of breast and ovarian cancer in women who practice it.

 

 

 

What if you were in their shoes?! What would I do?

More than a million displaced Syrian are trying hard to live where hundreds of random, remote camps located near to the Syrian- Turkish borders,
the last rainstorm hit northwest Syria, many camps were damaged and left the families without a shelter as well as the mud has blocked the movements,
This suffering hasn’t happened once this year; it’s every year suffering; it’s gaining year after year,
Away from the world, every tent hides a story behind it
Faces of children and elders telling hundreds of tragic stories as residue from alienation and torment
40 team of Independent Doctors Association, they work to improve the health of children and women through repeated visits to camps,
In the photos, a part of the community health team visit the random camps located near the Syrian Turkish borders,
Khadija, a team leader of the IDA community health team, says:
We visit camps to follow up on children and women’s health no matter how difficult it is to reach them. We provide supplementary feeding and spread awareness among the IDPs,
We feel sad because we could not move them to better places and not provide for their needs. I’ve seen children freezing from cold during my visits,
It’s difficult to describe how hard their life is,
I wish I could have the resources to make their lives like any normal children and ask myself, what if I were in their parents’ shoes? What a feeling I would try when I’m helpless to make their life better?!!