Why Kenya's babies are missing mother's milk

WHO and Unicef recommend exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months, followed by continued breastfeeding up to two years or beyond. [Courtesy]

In the densely populated slum of Manyatta B in Kisumu, a young mother rocks her baby gently under the shade of a tattered iron sheet roof. The baby fusses and cries, not from illness, but hunger. For 22-year-old Nancy Akinyi, breastfeeding has been an uphill battle from the moment her child was born.

“This is my first baby. He’s now one year and two months old. When I gave birth at 21, I didn’t know how to breastfeed,” she says. “I didn’t have milk. I went to the hospital and was told it would come later. I was advised to eat well, but even now, I still don’t have enough milk.”