The council's Labour Group housing spokesperson, Coun. Tracey Simpson-Laing, today welcomed the Government's announcement of an extra £2 million investment to help more women in England breastfeed. The extra funding, announced during World Breastfeeding Week, is to help improve the UK's breastfeeding rate, which is among the lowest in Europe, and in particular help mums in deprived areas.

Coun. Tracey Simpson-Laing comments:
"The funding is aimed at supporting hospitals in disadvantaged areas to achieve Unicef Baby-Friendly Status, a set of best practice standards for maternity units and community services on improving practice to promote, protect and support breastfeeding. With the recent news about deprivation levels in York, I hope that York hospital will be able to attract some of this funding".
"The Unicef initiative has a proven track record in raising breastfeeding rates in many countries. It supports mothers to start breastfeeding and helps them to continue for longer through a range of helpful initiatives, including peer support groups to help mothers with breastfeeding difficulties".
Coun. Simpson-Laing comments that the Government will monitor progress through measuring rates of breastfeeding at six to eight weeks in all Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) as the key indicator of its Child Health and Wellbeing PSA (Public Service Agreement) target. The extra funding and services at community level are in addition to other activities launched in 2008 to promote breastfeeding, including the launch of the National Breastfeeding Helpline (0844 2090 920) and Breast Buddy - a campaign to encourage women, especially those 16-25 years and from disadvantaged groups, to start and continue to breastfeed.
Coun. Tracey Simpson-Laing notes:
"I know of many women, including friends and family, who have found difficulties in breastfeeding and support by the Government is very welcome. However, there is still the issue of tackling prejudice in society towards breastfeeding and these need to be tackled for York's new mothers. We have to remember that York is a tourist destination and attracts many families from across the country and from abroad, with many coming from very different cultures where attitudes to breastfeeding are very different to the UK's often Victorian attitudes".

The Breast Feeding Campaign is part of the Government's £75million Change4Life campaign due to be launched in Autumn 2008, which will focus on helping people to make healthier choices. Breastfeeding will be integral to the campaign.