LAHORE: This year’s World Breastfeeding Week (August 1-7) celebrations call for a concerted worldwide action to encourage and support all new mothers in creating a balance between breastfeeding and work. Nestle recently launched an initiative aligned to this. It fosters a supportive environment for breastfeeding mothers and ensures their job security.

The Nestle Global Maternity Protection Policy highlights paid maternity leave of up to 24 weeks and a conducive work environment for breastfeeding. It is designed to support the 340,000 Nestle employees around the globe (one third are women).

In Pakistan, the general practice is to allow 12 weeks of paid maternity leave. Most public and private offices do not have day-care facilities or dedicated breastfeeding rooms that would make it easier for working women to continue breastfeeding when they return to work.

At Nestle Pakistan, women are working at all sites including factories, sales offices and milk collection units. The company strongly believes in having a gender balance and has always encouraged women by providing them opportunities and facilities so that it would be easier for them to achieve a work-life balance.—PR