Six babies at six months - WHO launches next chapter of "Great expectations"
27 September 2005 | Geneva - Today, the World Health Organization (WHO), launches the newest chapter in the Great expectations photo series - which re-visits the six mothers and their babies in six countries, at six months. The photo stories reveal how the babies are progressing - what they are eating, what immunizations they have received and how their families are adjusting to a new person in their midst.
This instalment highlights the importance of immunizations in the first year of life, of continuing to breastfeed - and to introduce solid foods - when babies reach six months.
Great expectations opens a window on the very personal experience of pregnancy, childbirth and the early months of a child's life and is narrated in the mother's own words. The families live in different parts of the world - Bolivia, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, the Lao People's Democratic Republic, and the United Kingdom. The six mothers and their babies are Damiana and Alberth, Samah and Basant, Hiwot and Elizabeth, Renu and Monica, Bounlid and Lang, and Claire and Elizabeth.
The Great expectations series will continue to document the progress of these six women and their babies until the children reach one year of age. These ongoing stories are part of a global effort to ensure that women give birth safely to healthy babies and that their young children survive and thrive, in a world where over half a million women die in pregnancy and childbirth each year and nearly 11 million children do not reach their fifth birthday.