FW: Cuba: maternity leave extended to 1 year

[Barry Stoller <bstoller@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Granma. 15 May 2001. Mother and baby together: better quality of life;
maternity leave extended to one year.


The best Mother?s Day gift from the government to Cuban women was the
guarantee of necessary job security to every mother during her baby?s
first year of life.

Such was the demand of the workers at their recently concluded 18th
Congress, with the result announced on May 1 in the form of Resolution
No. 11 of 2001 of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, through
which the mother will receive a loan equivalent to 60% of her salary
starting with the four month after the baby?s birth until the child
reaches the age of one.

Previously, the loan was offered starting with the sixth month, when
paid leave came to an end.

Female workers receive the full 100% of their salaries from the 35th
week of pregnancy through three months after the birth.

Other mothers will also benefit from this initiative, because there are
plans to convert facilities for small babies into spaces for children
over a year of age in day-care centers, the 40-year-old institution in
charge of pre-school education of working mothers? children, upon their
request.

According to Dr. Roberto Alvarez Fumero, pediatrician and specialist of
the Ministry of Public Health?s Mother-Child Program, this measure
provides great health advantages for mothers and children.

Cuba promotes exclusive breast-feeding in the first four months, and
complementary breast-feeding through six months, but starting now
working mothers will be able to continue breast-feeding up to one year.

This will lead to better immunological development in babies, for
example by lowering the risks of acquiring acute respiratory infections,
acute diarrhea, meningitis and other invasive infections.

Reducing deaths during this crucial period of life is an ambitious goal,
keeping in mind that Cuba?s current infant mortality rates are already
comparable to those of developed countries: for every 1,000 live births,
0.1 deaths occur as a result of acute diarrhea, 0.2 deaths as a result
of acute respiratory infections and 0.2 as a result of meningitis.

The specialist also states that the baby?s close proximity to the mother
during this time guarantees security, affection and family recognition,
which studies have shown to be factor reducing the risk of negative
social conduct in future adults.

Among other advantages, mothers could identify, prevent, and modify the
major risks of death from accidents through one year of age. These can
be caused by falls, suffocation, ingestion of foreign bodies and
bronchitis and represent 0.3 per 1,000 cases of infant mortality
reported.

The Baby Friendly Hospitals program, inaugurated by the United Nations
Children?s Fund (UNICEF) in 1992, has been quite successful in Cuba. Not
only are its standards met in the 57 state hospitals where 100% of Cuban
babies are born, but it also extends to maternal homes, created for
pregnant women at risk or those who live far from hospitals where they
may be attended. The program?s principles are also promoted by the
family doctors in local communities.

It is not a miracle that Cuba obtained an infant mortality rate of 7.2
per 1,000 live births in the year of 2000, cited as one of best in the
world.


...........................

Barry Stoller

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