PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Government has so far failed to implement the Breastfeeding and Child Nutrition Act 2015 in the province as formula milk available in the open market. This was shared in a program on Breast Feeding Month August 2016 here at Directorate Health Service office Peshawar with the support of UNICEF as this year theme of the month was “Breast Feeding: A key to sustainable development”. The law was passed on 9th January 2015 by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly while it was enforced on 22nd January 2015 in the province but no progress was shown to implement this law in the best interest of the people. According to United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) more than 800,000 lives would be saved if all babies were feed from the birth until six months of age by their mothers. UNICEF warns that 77 million babies deprived of mother’s milk within the first crucial hours after birth are at great risk of dying within a month. In South Asia 21 million new born babies in the region are still left to wait far too long to receive breast milk from their mothers, the UNICEF report said. According to the National Nutrition Survey report 2011, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 68.5 per cent children under five have Vitamin-A deficiency against nationwide 54 per cent while 49 per cent suffer from anemia compared to 62 per cent prevalent at the country level. The province has 24.1 per cent underweight children compared to Pakistan’s and 31 percent, according to the survey. Dr Haroon Khan deputy director nutrition programme said that August first week was observed by 170 countries across the Globe as breast feeding week to highlight the importance of breast feeding. He added that our religion Islam tells us to feed a child up to two years, adding for six month exclusive breast feeding is necessary for a child. He inform that in Pakistan there were 38% breast feeding ratio while in developed countries the ration of breast feeding is more than 50%, adding that if we wants to achieved sustainable development goals (SDGs) we must improve the ratio of breast feeding. Dr Aien Khan Afridi from UNICEF said that there are seventeen goals in SDGs prepared by the world leaders in 2015 as we must achieved all these goals up to 2030. He added that still formula milk were openly selling in market and the government should take action on it. The space for breast feeding zone in public hospitals should be established for mothers. An official of the health department on the condition to not mention her name said that the government not serious to implant the breast feeding law as there were no progress shown by the KP Infant Feeding Board (IFB) to implement the law in the province. Dr Perveez Kamal Director General Health said that after the devolution of power of 18th amendment now the health department has start working to implement the law in the province and steps has been taken in this regard. He added that soon the law will be implemented and all the formulas milk available in the market would be banned and those doctors who prescribe formula milk will be punished according to the law. He inform that the health department along with donor agencies will arranged such like program in the month of august to create awareness among people on breast feeding in tehsil and district level of the province. He added that health department trying their best to create awareness of breast feeding but it was also the responsibility of media and religious leaders to create awareness of breast feeding among people. On the occasion Dr. Ali Ahmad, Dr. Ayub Rose, Dr. Shabina and other Pediatricians were present and talk on the importance of breast feeding.