KAMPALA, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) -- Uganda's ministry of health on Tuesday said it will implement stringent measures that will see mothers on maternity leave breastfeed and take care of their babies instead of engaging in other private businesses.

Moriku Kaducu, minister of state for primary health care told Xinhua by telephone that concerns have been raised that mothers soon after delivering, they abandon their babies during the maternity leave.

She said mothers also need to use that time to recuperate.

"She needs to use this time to recover, to regain the energy lost during birth time because during birth, mothers lose a lot of blood," the minister said.

"The law is clear, it says you should use 60 days for maternity leave and four days for paternity leave. But the problem is implementation. People's mindsets are very different, they tend to use that time to do other businesses aside from the maternity leave."

The minister made the comments a day before the end of the World Breastfeeding Week, an annual event marked during the first week of August.