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Zimbabwe Seeks to Meet Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative Goals

Posted on: Wednesday, 2 November 2005, 09:01 CST

Zimbabwe seeks to meet baby friendly hospital initiative goals

HARARE, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- Zimbabwe is determined to meet and sustain the World Health Organization coordinated goals set for the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI), an official said on Tuesday.

Opening a three-day course on Field Testing of the BFHI training materials at Chitungwiza Central Hospital, Health and Child Welfare permanent secretary Edward Mabiza said the course was aimed at equipping health practitioners with practical knowledge to make hospitals baby friendly in the context of HIV/ AIDS.

The BFHI seeks to enable mothers make an informed choice about how to feed their newborns, support early initiation of breastfeeding, promote exclusive breastfeeding and ensure the cessation of free and low cost infant formula supply to hospitals.

"Mechanisms need to be established for coordinating all infant and young child-feeding activities," he said.

The course, he said, focuses on the application of the health workers' knowledge and skills in their everyday practice rather than providing a high amount of theory and research findings.

Mabiza said the HIV pandemic, mother to child transmission of the virus and the debate about infant feeding, had brought confusion to the world.

"This requires us to develop capacity for counseling and support for infant feeding, integrate counseling into antenatal care services, enabling families to reach decisions on replacement feeding and provide follow up," he said.

He said the practice of exclusive breastfeeding to infants less than six months was crucial in the wake of HIV/AIDS.

Statistics from the United Nations Children's Fund show that about 100 children get infected with HIV every day while a child dies every 15 minutes in the world due to the pandemic.

A total 1,400 children under 15 years old die of AIDS related illnesses and more than 6,000 aged 15 to 24 are newly infected with HIV every day across the world.

The full potential of breastfeeding for infants' health, especially prevention of illness, has not been fully realized in the country, with over 60 percent of mothers continuing to give formula preparations and other foods to infants less than six months.

A total 46 hospitals from the targeted 213 hospitals in Zimbabwe have passed the BFHI assessment since 1993.

Source: Xinhua News Agency - CEIS

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