The Southern District Health Board has been given a hurry-up by the Ministry of Health after it failed to reach its target for breast-feeding mothers.
Papers to be presented to the SDHB commissioner's meeting today showed just 59% of southern infants were exclusively or fully breast-feeding at 3 months of age.
The SDHB target is 70% - a recent increase from a 60% target which it had been able to achieve.
While pleased the SDHB had made gains in breast-feeding numbers in the past two quarters, the ministry demanded progress to improve statistics for Maori, deprived and Pacific people.
Just 46% of Maori infants were exclusively or fully breast-feeding at three months, 48% of children classed as ''highly deprived'' and 54% of Pacific children.
The SDHB said it would continue to evaluate its recently launched Oranga-Pepi programme - a range of initiatives aimed at improving whanau awareness of entitlements for newborn babies - to see it was reaching everyone it should.
The SDHB had also started contacting families newly arrived in the region to help them contact and arrange health services, and was supporting independent research into breast-feeding in the southern region.
