Compliance with Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI); A Case Study of the Sagnarigu Municipal Health Directorate of Northern Ghana
Abstract:
It has been
estimated that the deaths of 823,000 children each year could be averted by
increasing Breastfeeding has been established in literature as one of the
practices. In fact, it has been established that nearly 900,000 infant deaths
can be prevented globally through progressive breastfeeding. Imperatively,
Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative has been demonstrated in literature as one of
the pathways through which breastfeeding can be initiated right after birth.
Other studies have also demonstrated positive association between BFHI and
exclusive breastfeeding. While the global narrative has been established, not
much is known on compliance levels with healthcare facilities in Ghana. The
study adopted mixed method research to investigate compliance with BFHI, using
Sagnarigu Municipal Health Directorate of Northern Ghana as the case study.
Data for the study were gathered through field survey and in-depth interview
and analysed through descriptive statistics and thematic analysis. Findings
showed higher compliance level to exclusive breastfeeding, on-demand feeding
and breastfeeding education with each of them scoring above 90% compliance
level. On the contrary, the qualitative findings demonstrate that none of the
healthcare facilities demonstrated comprehensive understanding of the ten steps
involved in BFHI. Thus, health workers were not adequately trained to fully
implement the breastfeeding policy actions with BFHI. The study showed that,
none of the sample healthcare facilities met the criteria for steps one and two
of the BFHI. Key barriers that undermine compliance to BFHI included; lack of in-service
training, inadequate national and regional support for the program and
high-client to staff ratio.
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