http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/323/7308/0/b
Higher rates of breast feeding would reduce
infant mortality
Getting more mothers to increase the
duration of exclusive breast feeding would cut infant mortality, an
international study has found. Betrán et al analysed national data
on breast feeding and infant mortality from diarrhoeal diseases and
acute respiratory infection in16 countries in Latin America and the
Caribbean (p 303).
They estimated that if all infants aged 0-3 months were exclusively
breast fed and all infants aged 4-11 months were partially breast
fed, infant mortality would fall by 14% overall. The greatest effect
was in the younger age group, when deaths from diarrhoeal and acute
respiratory diseases could be cut by two thirds. 
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