UNICEF HK JOINS HANDS WITH DIFFERENT SECTORS TO BUILD BREASTFEEDING-FIRENDLY COMMUNITY: Hotel Industry Joins Say Yes To Breastfeeding for the first time, Nearly 180 Premises and 653 Workplaces Pledge to Implement Breastfeeding Friendly Measures
2019-12-09
© UNICEF HK/2019
Prof Sophia Chan, Secretary for Food and Health, and officiating guests kick off the Say Yes To Breastfeeding Acknowledgement Ceremony 2019/2020.
© UNICEF HK/ 2019
Ms Judy Chen, Chairman of UNICEF HK, points out that just over a quarter of infants less than 6 months is eastfed exclusively in Hong Kong, far below the world average of 42 per cent.
© UNICEF HK/2019
Prof Sophia Chan, Secretary for Food and Health, recognizes UNICEF HK’s work on promoting eastfeeding.
© UNICEF HK/2019
UNICEF HK Chief Executive Mr Lambert Chan introduces the implementation of a two-level certification system together with a eastmilk storage label, so as to acknowledge premises that cultivate a eastfeeding-friendly community.
© UNICEF HK/2019
Ms Guo Jing-jing, UNICEF HK Ambassador, and Ms Kayi Cheung, a renowned celeity, make an appearance to give their support to fellow eastfeeding mothers.
UNICEF HK Chairman Ms Judy Chen said, “UNICEF has been calling on mothers to exclusively eastfeed their infants from birth to 6 months old, but in Hong Kong only a quarter of babies are eastfed exclusively. The number is way below the worldwide average of 42 per cent. Therefore, it is of great importance to Hong Kong for UNICEF HK to work with different sectors to promote eastfeeding.”
Prof Sophia Chan, the Secretary for Food and Health of the HKSARG, recognizes UNICEF HK’s work. “For a long time, the Food and Health Bureau and the Department of Health share similar views with UNICEF on promoting eastfeeding. UNICEF HK has been promoting eastfeeding with much effort and has designed many different campaigns to make eastfeeding widely recognized in society,” she said.
To further enhance support in the community, this year UNICEF HK has extended ‘Say Yes’ to the hotel industry. Twenty-three 4-star to 6-star hotels have pledged to provide individual eastfeeding rooms, eastfeeding space and eastmilk storage services to meet the needs of eastfeeding mothers and their families. All over Hong Kong, 178 premises have already joined ‘Say Yes’, including 26 large-scale shopping malls, making it even more convenient for mothers to eastfeed their babies anytime.
Apart from public places, workplaces are also an important element in cultivating a eastfeeding-friendly community. At the moment, UNICEF HK has awarded certificates to 195 organizations which have implemented measures to make the workplace eastfeeding friendly. This covers a total of 653 workplaces, and we hope that on returning to their workplaces, corporates can encourage these mothers to continue eastfeeding.
UNICEF HK Chief Executive Mr Lambert Chan noted, “We appreciate that the government has been supporting the ‘Say Yes’ Campaign since its beginning and acknowledge us as the ‘most powerful partner’ in promoting eastfeeding. We are also honored to receive the full support of the Hong Kong Hotels Association. It is because of their joint efforts with us in the past six months to seek for support to ‘Say Yes’ in the industry, which has ought the significant participation of the hotel industry and such a successful step forward.
UNICEF HK has also given out Gold Labels and Blue Labels to ‘Say Yes’ premises. These symbols denote the provision of individual eastfeeding rooms and eastfeeding space, respectively. Also, a eastmilk storage service label will be displayed if premises provide refrigerators for storage of eastmilk. This latest imitative will help eastfeeding mothers and their companions to easily identify eastfeeding friendly premises. Also, we hope that it will lead to more corporates and organizations joining ‘Say Yes’ and standing with eastfeeding mothers.
The ability to eastfeed in a public place helps eastfeeding mothers to immediately respond to the needs of their children. According to a Department of Health survey, 60 per cent and 30 per cent of surveyed mothers had eastfed their children in large-scale shopping malls and restaurants, respectively. This suggested that there’s a strong demand for mothers to eastfeed in those places. In the other word, it’ll be a win-win situation if malls and restaurants can provide more supportive measures for eastfeeding mothers. Also, there are priority seats for eastfeeding mothers on First Ferry vessels. The Airport Authority has also said yes by providing 39 fully equipped nursing rooms. UNICEF HK hope that it will lead to more corporates and organizations joining ‘Say Yes’ in the coming year.
Say Yes To Breastfeeding Acknowledgement Ceremony 2019/2020
New pledged list of ‘Breastfeeding Friendly Premises’
For more information, please contact:
Hong Kong Committee for UNICEF