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Gearing up to improve exclusive breastfeeding practices in South Africa

South Africa has one of the lowest breastfeeding rates on the African continent. Globally, just 44% of infants are breastfed soon after birth, and 40% of those less than six months old are exclusively breastfed. To improve infant nutrition by 2025, the United Nations established targets to eliminate...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Vitalis, Debbie, Witten, Chantell, Pérez-Escamilla, Rafael
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8912204/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35271643
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0265012
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author Vitalis, Debbie
Witten, Chantell
Pérez-Escamilla, Rafael
author_facet Vitalis, Debbie
Witten, Chantell
Pérez-Escamilla, Rafael
author_sort Vitalis, Debbie
collection PubMed
description South Africa has one of the lowest breastfeeding rates on the African continent. Globally, just 44% of infants are breastfed soon after birth, and 40% of those less than six months old are exclusively breastfed. To improve infant nutrition by 2025, the United Nations established targets to eliminate malnutrition and increase exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) rates to at least 50%. Despite the WHO Code regulations endorsed by the World Health Assembly since 1981, breaches continue to be prevalent due to a combination of weak implementation, monitoring and enforcement in low-to-middle income countries. Over the years, infant formula sales in LMICs (including South Africa) have skyrocketed contributing to excess infant morbidity and mortality. To that end, the specific aims of this study was to gain an understanding of priority actions and strategies necessary to improve breastfeeding outcomes in South Africa in the context of the HIV pandemic. The team used a qualitative study design based on a semi-structured interview guide. The guide consisted of eight open-ended questions addressing the WHO HIV-related infant feeding guidelines, the WHO International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes, political will, and advocacy. Of the 24 individuals contacted, 19 responded and 15 agreed to participate. The Breastfeeding Gear Model guided the thematic analysis. The three main themes identified were 1) WHO guidelines on HIV and infant feeding, 2) Improving exclusive breastfeeding, and 3) Advocacy. Key informants identified issues that need to be addressed to improve breastfeeding outcomes in South Africa. Strong political will is a key ingredient to harness the resources (human, financial) needed to implement, monitor, and act against Code violators. South Africa and other countries with similar challenges should consider using the WHOs Network for Global Monitoring and Support for Implementation of the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes and Subsequent relevant World Health Assembly Resolutions (NetCode) methodology.
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spelling pubmed-89122042022-03-11 Gearing up to improve exclusive breastfeeding practices in South Africa Vitalis, Debbie Witten, Chantell Pérez-Escamilla, Rafael PLoS One Research Article South Africa has one of the lowest breastfeeding rates on the African continent. Globally, just 44% of infants are breastfed soon after birth, and 40% of those less than six months old are exclusively breastfed. To improve infant nutrition by 2025, the United Nations established targets to eliminate malnutrition and increase exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) rates to at least 50%. Despite the WHO Code regulations endorsed by the World Health Assembly since 1981, breaches continue to be prevalent due to a combination of weak implementation, monitoring and enforcement in low-to-middle income countries. Over the years, infant formula sales in LMICs (including South Africa) have skyrocketed contributing to excess infant morbidity and mortality. To that end, the specific aims of this study was to gain an understanding of priority actions and strategies necessary to improve breastfeeding outcomes in South Africa in the context of the HIV pandemic. The team used a qualitative study design based on a semi-structured interview guide. The guide consisted of eight open-ended questions addressing the WHO HIV-related infant feeding guidelines, the WHO International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes, political will, and advocacy. Of the 24 individuals contacted, 19 responded and 15 agreed to participate. The Breastfeeding Gear Model guided the thematic analysis. The three main themes identified were 1) WHO guidelines on HIV and infant feeding, 2) Improving exclusive breastfeeding, and 3) Advocacy. Key informants identified issues that need to be addressed to improve breastfeeding outcomes in South Africa. Strong political will is a key ingredient to harness the resources (human, financial) needed to implement, monitor, and act against Code violators. South Africa and other countries with similar challenges should consider using the WHOs Network for Global Monitoring and Support for Implementation of the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes and Subsequent relevant World Health Assembly Resolutions (NetCode) methodology. Public Library of Science 2022-03-10 /pmc/articles/PMC8912204/ /pubmed/35271643 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0265012 Text en © 2022 Vitalis et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Vitalis, Debbie
Witten, Chantell
Pérez-Escamilla, Rafael
Gearing up to improve exclusive breastfeeding practices in South Africa
title Gearing up to improve exclusive breastfeeding practices in South Africa
title_full Gearing up to improve exclusive breastfeeding practices in South Africa
title_fullStr Gearing up to improve exclusive breastfeeding practices in South Africa
title_full_unstemmed Gearing up to improve exclusive breastfeeding practices in South Africa
title_short Gearing up to improve exclusive breastfeeding practices in South Africa
title_sort gearing up to improve exclusive breastfeeding practices in south africa
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8912204/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35271643
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0265012
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