Economic value of breast-feeding in India
Gupta, A.; Rohde, J.E.
Economic and Political Weekly 28(26): 1390-1393
1993
ISSN/ISBN: 0012-9976 Document Number: 336377
The paper reviews the macro-economics of infant feeding to calculate the economic value of lactation in Indian mothers. The importance of breast feeding to the health and nutrition of infants is universally recognized. Breast feeding is associated with reduced rates of infectious diseases in infants, long-term reductions of cancer risks for the mother, and reduced fecundity (up to 18 months or more in Bangladesh, Indonesia and other rural populations). The paper calculates the milk production capacity and estimates actual lactation by Indian mothers. Various other costs are also calculated, and these provide a conservative estimate of the value of human milk to the Indian economy, demonstrating dramatically to economists, planners and other non-health professionals the important national resource which breast feeding represents. Moves towards urbanization and trends of modernization are threatening the use of breast feeding, with the likelihood of a rise in all the costs that this will entail.