Ma Yili Appointed UNICEF Special Advocate for Breastfeeding and Early Child Development

Beijing May 20, 2013 – Ma Yili, one of China's leading film artists and a high profile advocate of breastfeeding, was officially appointed Special Advocate for Breastfeeding and Early Child Development by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) China Country Office.

Ma Yili signed an official letter of appointment with Dale Rutstein, UNICEF Chief of Communication and Partnership in the organization's Beijing compound. Later she shared her personal experiences of child rearing with over 30 breastfeeding mothers participating in a UNICEF training workshop.

"We are extremely delighted to welcome Ma Yili into the UNICEF family. Her extensive knowledge and passion for breastfeeding is rarely seen among celebrities,” said Rutstein, “With her support, we will be able to help millions of Chinese mothers in need."

In China's dynamic social media space, Ma Yili is followed by over 50 million fans on her Sina and Tencent micro-blogs, or “weibo”, the Chinese counterpart of twitter. After giving birth five years ago, Ma Yili breastfed her daughter for nine months.

“Breastfeeding is a decision I took since I was a little girl, I was never swayed,” she wrote in her blog describing her own breastfeeding experience. Her series of articles and tweets area source of inspiration and encouragement to hundreds of thousands of breastfeeding mothers.

“Breastfeeding is such wonderful experience, each time is a perfect moment for a mother,” said Ma Yili, her remarks are applauded by passionate mothers joining the workshop.

In this new role for UNICEF, Ma Yili's first assignment will be to help promote the 10m2 of Love campaign to raise awareness and support for breastfeeding mothers. On 30 May 2013 UNICEF will launch a highly innovative public advocacy campaign by using China's social media to promote workplace and public building breastfeeding rooms.

Despite China's economic advances, more than 12 per cent of children in poor rural areas are stunted as a result of  inadequate infant and young child feeding. Breast milk is the best food for infants. It contains all the nutrients, vitamins and minerals a baby needs in the first six months. Yet, in China, breastfeeding rates are declining, a mere 28 per cent or so of Chinese mothers breastfeed exclusively for six months.

“Studies show that breastfed children have a much lower lifetime risk of obesity, diabetes and heart disease than children fed on substitutes," said Dale Rutstein, UNICEF Chief of Communication, "Stronger babies make a strong nation, we hope that through this exciting public-private partnership breastfeeding rooms bearing the 10m2 of love  logo will spread all over China."

As part of the 10m2 of Love campaign, UNICEF China held a training workshop for over 30 breastfeeding advocates from 15 cities this past weekend. They will become the torchbearers for establishing breastfeeding rooms that meet international standards in their cities after they finish the workshop.