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Caring for a newborn: At the Osu Materiny Home, Rebecca Martey breastfeeds her newborn son Gerald. In the past, many women did not feed babies breast milk exclusively. Instead, a baby's diet was supplemented with water, sugar water or other herbal concoctions, causing diarrhea and other problems.
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Teaching mothers, engaging fathers: Andres Yemetey from Ghana Infant Nutrition discusses the benefits and proper techniques of breastfeeding with Estherlyne Larkai as she feeds her 11-month old daughter at the Osu Maternity Home in Accra. Andres encourages men to be involved in breastfeeding so that mothers have the necessary support.
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Teaching is paying off: Nurse Esther Bonsu helps Florence Andoff breast feed her newborn at La Polyclinic. According to Ghana's Health Services, its efforts to encourage exclusive breastfeeding have paid off since the start of their initiative. Reports of women feeding their babies only breast milk have increased dramatically over the past 10 years.
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Benefits of Ghana's Breastfeeding Program: Veronica Gomez, Ghana's Health Services Breastfeeding Program Manager, greets 15-week-old Treasure Abbam and mother Felicia Owodoo at the Osu Maternity Home. On the benefits of breastfeeding, Gomez says, 'There are less problems . . . the government now spends less money to treat such babies, who otherwise would be having diarrhea . . . and other problems.'
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Mothers report healthier, smarter babies: Matin Epada lies in bed with her newborn son at the Osu Maternity Home. Women who have had multiple children report that those raised exclusively on breastmilk are healthier, smarter and develop quicker.
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Spreading the breastfeeding message: Women wait for a breastfeeding tutorial at the Osu Maternity Home. The government uses the radio to spread messages about breastfeeding, using songs and role-playing to connect with and reach a larger population.
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Supplementing with vaccines: Breastfeeding alone will not keep babies healthy, so at the Osu Maternity Home Nurse Rebecca Lartey injects four-month-old Samuel Tswumasi with a Pentavalent vaccine containing five antigens that will protect him from multiple diseases.
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Sleeping newborns: Five-day-old twins lie on a bed in a maternity ward in La Polyclinic.
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Mother and child: Agnes Addison and her newborn at La Polyclinic.
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Weighing the Results: At the Osu Maternity Home, Nurse Christina Quarshey weighs three-month-old Kwei Tetteh, who, having been raised on breast milk, came in at a healthy 12.5 pounds. His mother, Lydia Drovu, watches.
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Healthy baby: Another well-fed face. A child sleeps on her mother's back at the Osu Materinity Home.
Gallery: Breastfeeding in Ghana
Gallery: Mothers in Ghana Learn About Breastfeeding Techniques
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Mothers in Ghana Learn About Breastfeeding Techniques
Give children a healthy start in life
Vaccines are often called the best buy in public health. And now, for the very first time, we have two new vaccines that will help stop pneumonia and diarrhoea - 2 of the biggest killers of children under 5 around the world. Let's ask world leaders today to help fund these 2 proven vaccines and save 4 million children's lives in 5 years.
Fact: We are close to wiping out guinea worm
This disease has been eliminated in all but four countries, and cases have been reduced from almost 624,000 cases in 1990 to fewer than 1,100 cases in 2011. 97% of remaining cases are located in South Sudan





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