Bangladesh: new breastfeeding initiative helps garment workers

For garment workers with newborns or infants at home - as for women in many other professions - maternity leave or child care facilities at work are but a distant dream. Yet, the benefits of breastfeeding are clinically proven: breastfed babies acquire good immunity and generally develop faster than their non-breastfed or sporadically breastfed peers. So what's a new mother to do who cannot afford to lose her job and who has to spend 10-12 hours a day or more away from home and her baby?

Given that breast milk is the best, easiest and cheapest way to feed a baby and an important factor in reducing susceptibility to diseases and child mortality, it should be given exclusively during the first six months of an infant's life. However, this poses a challenge for working mothers anywhere and especially for those who do not have access to hygienic conditions and privacy at work and at home. Previously expressed breast milk, for example, can of course be fed to the baby by someone else during the day while the mother is at work as breast milk will stay safe to consume for 24 to 48 hours. However, this will only work with refrigeration. Most garment workers live in slum communities and humid conditions though and have no way of keeping their milk cool enough to last.

Enter Canadian organisation Grand Challenges Canada that works with the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research (ICDDR) in Bangladesh to tackle exactly this problem. They are turning to pasteurisation as the answer and have developed a novel way to extend the shelf-life of breast milk without refrigeration, namely through a high-temperature, short-time pasteurisation device that uses very little water. They couple the technique with infant and young child feeding counselling, both of which has been received enthusiastically by participating mothers.

One factory has agreed to host the clinic, which is completely set up at this point. ICDDR is conducting formative research with the women garment workers who will be using the pasteurisation device. They will also receive breast pumps and breast pump user kits - donated by Medela Australia - for all the women enrolled in the project.

"Through this project, mothers working in Bangladesh garment factories will receive access to breast pumps and a low-cost way to extend the shelf life of expressed breast milk. The technique uses an alternative heating medium, minimising the amount of water and energy normally needed for pasteurisation but effectively killing bacteria and viruses while leaving nutrient content largely intact and extending shelf life. The results offer major benefits for the workers, their babies and employers alike, among them improved infant nutrition, reduced absenteeism due to child illnesses and less expense for baby formula. Using existing factory clinics to promote long-term sustainability, the project can be scaled up in Bangladesh and other low- and middle-income countries", explains Micaela Colins, co-principal investigator, Stars in Global Health project .

Needless to say that providing help to young garment workers trying to feed their infants in the best possible way makes sense for factory owners too - they will have fewer absences from work, not to mention healthier and more loyal workers who feel taken care of. With all eyes on Bangladesh at the moment, this pioneering project could also set a precedent for factory workers worldwide.