Strengthening counseling on barriers to exclusive breastfeeding through use of job aids in Nampula, Mozambique

Infant and young child feeding practices among mothers in the pilot Micronutrient Powder Initiative in four geographically and ethnically diverse districts in Ghana

In Ghana, breastfeeding and complementary feeding counselling have been used as a nutritional intervention to promote optimal Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) and nutrition. This study examined IYCF practices in four geographically and ethnically diverse districts (Ho West, Tain, Talensi and Tolon). A qualitative study involving key informant interviews (KIIs) and focus group discussions (FGDs) was conducted between November and December 2019 among women who participated in a pilot micronutrient powder intervention for children 6-23 months of age. The KIIs and FGDs were audio-taped, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed thematically using NVivo 10. Three themes emerging from the KIIs and FGDs were: level of adherence to IYCF recommendations among mothers and caregivers; IYCF recommendations perceived as the hardest to follow; and perceived motivators, facilitators, and barriers to IYCF practices. Mothers in the four districts generally followed the eight IYCF recommendations. Mothers in the Tolon district demonstrated adherence to IYCF practices, often citing the need for early initiation of breastfeeding, timely introduction of complementary feeding, and feeding children aged 9-23 months 3 times daily in addition to breastfeeding. In contrast, mothers in other districts faced challenges that hindered adherence. Giving children 4 or more food groups and timely introduction of complementary feeding were perceived as the hardest practices to follow. The main facilitators of IYCF practices include midwives and frontline nurses teaching mothers how to breastfeed, and midwives ensuring mothers initiate breastfeeding immediately after delivery. The main barriers to IYCF practices identified were insufficient breastmilk; mothers-in-law giving water to children before six months; resumption of work; and lack of financial means. Mothers in the Ho West district reported more barriers to IYCF practices, followed by mothers in the Tain, Talensi, and Tolon districts. Health practitioners, stakeholders, and policymakers should design targeted interventions that address the contextual barriers to improve IYCF practices in the various districts.

Breastfeeding interventions and programmes conducted in Portuguese-speaking sovereign states: A scoping review

AIM

This scoping review aimed to identify and appraise the effectiveness and impact of breastfeeding promotion interventions conducted across Portuguese-speaking sovereign countries.

METHODS

Using the PRISMA-ScR guidelines, we searched 14 electronic databases for publications published through 31 July 2023. The search terms were designed to find studies promoting breastfeeding or exclusive breastfeeding in pre-defined Portuguese-speaking countries.

RESULTS

Of the 5263 papers initially retrieved, 30 interventional studies on breastfeeding met the inclusion criteria across three countries: Brazil (N = 26), Portugal (N = 2) and Guinea Bissau (N = 2). Participants ranged from pregnant women, mothers, mother-infant pairs, healthcare professionals, and school children. Overall, the interventions increased exclusive breastfeeding and better breastfeeding practices, such as a higher duration of breastfeeding. The interventions positively affected maternal breastfeeding self-efficacy, knowledge and perception. Only four studies used a theoretical framework.

CONCLUSION

While the results were often statistically significant, no study had an outcome close to the recommended UNICEF and WHO goal of 70% breastfeeding at six months. The need to determine what works for the recommended six months postpartum period is critical for maximising children's health in Portuguese-speaking countries.

Infant and Young Child Feeding practices up to 23 months in Namuno District, Cabo Delgado, Mozambique

BACKGROUND

Inadequate breastfeeding and complementary feeding practices are key determinants of child malnutrition and impact one-third of the under-five mortality rate worldwide. The district of Namuno in Cabo Delgado (Mozambique) has been long registering a high prevalence of acute malnutrition. To date, no data exists about Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) practices in the area. The current pilot study explores the feeding practices among children aged 0-23 months in Namuno and sets out its main drivers.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study was realized between August and September 2019 and drew on questionnaires for mothers/caregivers of children aged 0 to 23 months. We computed IYCF indicators and correlated them with mothers'/caregivers' school attendance, delivery setting, and distance between home and the place where livelihood activities took place (workplace), using univariate and multivariate (age-adjusted) logistic regression analysis.

RESULTS

The survey was data derived from a sample of 632 mothers/caregivers. 62% of 0-23-month-old children received colostrum whilst only 31% of 0-5 months babies were on exclusive breastfeeding (EBF). Among 6-23 months old children, 17% consumed foods and beverages from at least five out of eight defined food groups, 31% received a minimum frequency of meals, and 23% had a minimum acceptable diet. Data revealed a positive correlation between early initiation of breastfeeding and delivery in a maternity ward (OR 6.9, CI 3.2-16.1, p-value < 0.001). No difference in the IYCF indicators between female and male babies was detected.

CONCLUSIONS

In the Namuno district, IYCF practices did not fulfill WHO/UNICEF's indicators and recommendations. This suggests that efforts should be focused on EBF-enabling interventions to improve children's dietary consumption patterns.

Health Professions Education Strategies for Enhancing Capacity for Task-Shifting and Task-Sharing Implementation in Africa: A Scoping Review

INTRODUCTION

To compensate for the shortage of health workers and effectively use the available health workforce to provide access to health services at various levels of the health system, several countries are implementing task-shifting and task-sharing (TSTS). This scoping review was conducted to synthesize evidence on health professions education (HPE) strategies applied to enhance capacities for TSTS implementation in Africa.

METHODS

This scoping review was conducted using the enhanced Arksey and O'Malley's framework for scoping reviews. The sources of evidence included CINAHL, PubMed, and Scopus.

RESULTS

Thirty-eight studies conducted in 23 countries provided insights on the strategies implemented in various health services contexts including general health, cancer screenings, reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health, HIV/AIDS, emergency care, hypertension, tuberculosis, eye care, diabetes, mental health, and medicines. The HPE strategies applied were in-service training, onsite clinical supervision and mentoring, periodic supportive supervision, provision of job aides, and preservice education.

DISCUSSION

Scaling up HPE based on the evidence from this study will contribute immensely to enhancing the capacity of health workers in contexts where TSTS are being implemented or planned to provide quality health services based on the population's health needs.

Breastfeeding Trends and it's Related Factors in Indonesia: A National Survey

This cross-sectional study aimed to examine breastfeeding trends and factors in Indonesia using Demographic Health Survey (DHS) data from 2007 to 2017. The research data were obtained from three Indonesia Demographic Health Surveys. The data covered households and women aged 15‒49 years old, including 40,701 households and 32,895 women in 2007; 43,852 households and 45,607 women in 2012; and 47,963 households and 49,627 women in 2017. Descriptive statistics was deployed to analyze the sociodemographic factors of the respondents. A questionnaire was employed to obtain data on the mothers' age, residence, education, economic status, mother working, marital status, literacy, place of delivery, first Antenatal Care (ANC) place, child size at birth, and gender of the child. Multinomial logistic regression analysis was used to analyze factors related to breastfeeding and how big the impact is. The findings indicate that the trend of breastfeeding in Indonesia significantly decreased based on the characteristics of mothers and children. The rates of breastfeeding (exclusive breastfeeding infants aged 0‒5 months who received only breast milk) among mothers living in urban areas decreased significantly from 41.6% in 2012 to 38.4% in 2017. In 2017, children with normal birth weight (OR=0.87, 95% CI:0.53‒1.45), boys (OR=1.01, 95% CI:0.92‒1.10), and non-illiterate mothers (OR=0.50, 95% CI:0.46‒0.55) had higher odds of breastfeeding compared to children with small birth weight, girls, and illiterate mothers. Factors associated with breastfeeding also change every year. In 2012, breastfeeding was related to marital status and delivery, but in 2017 it was not associated with those factors. Factors related to breastfeeding in Indonesia are age, residence, education, weight index, size of child at birth, mother’s occupation, marital status, literacy, place of delivery, and first ANC place. These results are important for developing policies to improve maternal and child health in Indonesia by increasing education and mother training for early initiation of breastfeeding.

How valid are women's reports of the antenatal health services they receive from Community Health Workers in Gombe State north-eastern Nigeria?

BACKGROUND

Community health workers (CHWs) in low- and middle-income countries are key to increasing coverage of maternal and newborn interventions through home visits to counsel families about healthy behaviours. Household surveys enable tracking the progress of CHW programmes but recent evidence questions the accuracy of maternal reports. We measured the validity of women's responses about the content of care they received during CHW home visits and examined whether the accuracy of women's responses was affected by CHW counselling skills.

METHODS

We conducted a criterion validity study in 2019, in Gombe State-Nigeria, and collected data from 362 pregnant women. During accompanied CHW home visits the content of CHW care and the presence or absence of 18 positive counselling skills were observed and documented by a researcher. In a follow-up interview three months later, the same women were asked about the care received during the CHW home visit. Women's reports were compared with observation data and the sensitivity, specificity, and area under receiver curve (AUC) calculated. We performed a covariate validity analysis that adjusted for a counselling skill score to assess the variation in accuracy of women's reports with CHW counselling skills.

RESULTS

Ten indicators were included in the validity analysis. Women consistently overestimated the content of care CHWs provided and no indicator met the condition for individual-level accuracy set at AUC ≥ 0.6. The CHW counselling skill score ranged from 9-18 points from a possible 18, with a mean of 14.3; checking on client history or concerns were the most frequently missed item. There was evidence that unmarried women and the relatively most poor women received less skilled counselling than other women (mean counselling scores of 13.2 and 13.7 respectively). There was no consistent evidence of an association between higher counselling skill scores and better accuracy of women's reports.

CONCLUSIONS

The validity of women's responses about CHW care content was poor and consistently overestimated coverage. We discuss several challenges in applying criterion validity study methods to examine measures of community-based care and make only cautious interpretation of the findings that may be relevant to other researchers interested in developing similar studies.

Enablers and inhibitors of exclusive breastfeeding: perspectives from mothers and health workers in Accra, Ghana

Background

Despite the health and economic benefits of exclusive breastfeeding, there is evidence of a decline globally and in Ghana. Previous studies addressing this problem are mostly quantitative with only a few of such studies using qualitative or mixed methods to examine the predictors, benefits, ways of improving and managing exclusive breastfeeding, and the challenges associated with exclusive breastfeeding from the perspective of exclusive and nonexclusive breastfeeding mothers, and health workers. This study employs the health belief model to examine the experiences of mothers and health workers regarding exclusive breastfeeding to fill this gap in the literature.

Methods

A cross-sectional qualitative study involving in-depth interviews was conducted among health workers and mothers attending child welfare clinic at two polyclinics in Madina, Accra-Ghana in 2019. Purposive sampling was used to select health facilities and participants for the study. Twenty participants comprising ten exclusive breastfeeding mothers, six non-exclusive breastfeeding mothers and four health workers were interviewed for the study. The data were analyzed based on emerging themes from inductive and deductive coding.

Results

The decision to practice exclusive breastfeeding was based on mothers’ work, advertisement on exclusive breastfeeding and education on breastfeeding provided by health workers. Insufficient flow of breast milk, pressure from family and friends, and insufficient breast milk for infants were among the reasons for discontinuing exclusive breastfeeding. The factors that help improve exclusive breastfeeding include eating healthy food and breastfeeding on demand, while counselling and monitoring, restricting advertisement on infant formula and granting maternity leave for breastfeeding mothers were identified as factors that can  facilitate the practice of exclusive breastfeeding.

Conclusion

Different levels of experience affect and shape exclusive breastfeeding practice in Ghana. The decision to practice exclusive breastfeeding, as well as the challenges and strategies employed in managing exclusive breastfeeding, emanates from mothers’ personal experiences and interactions with institutional factors. In view of this, there should be counselling on the management of challenges associated with exclusive breastfeeding and provision of accurate information on exclusive breastfeeding to enable mothers practice exclusive breastfeeding.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13006-022-00462-z.

Assessing the Nurturing Care Content of UNICEF's Community Infant and Young Child Feeding Counselling Package: Gaps, Best Practices, and Lessons Learned

Background

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Community Infant and Young Child Feeding Counselling Package (C-IYCF CP) is used globally for infant and young child feeding (IYCF) counseling. With the C-IYCF CP last updated 8 y ago, mapping existing nurturing care content, identifying gaps, and documenting current country-level changes offers a unique opportunity to guide recommendations to strengthen the nurturing care content of this package.

Objectives

The primary study aims were to: 1) identify and map existing nurturing care content within UNICEF's C-IYCF CP, 2) identify gaps related to nurturing care or feeding elements within the C-IYCF CP, 3) identify country-level nurturing care adaptations to the C-IYCF CP, and 4) identify best practices and lessons learned from country adaptations that can be recommended for inclusion in the C-IYCF CP.

Methods

The assessment included 4 phases: 1) conduct an iterative process to identify and map nurturing care elements within the C-IYCF CP using a codebook explicitly developed for this assessment; 2) identify gaps in the C-IYCF CP; 3) apply the codebook to IYCF packages from 11 countries, revise, then finalize the codebook; and 4) identify and interview key informants from 4 countries whose IYCF packages had the most comprehensive nurturing care content plus 1 country where health care professionals make routine mother-child home visits.

Results

The C-IYCF CP contained limited nurturing care content, especially around safety/security and early learning. All 5 countries interviewed had systematically identified and included priority nurturing care content in each package, yet content level varied. Two countries were also incorporating information technology into the training and delivery of the C-IYCF CP.

Conclusions

Existing country-level best practices can address nurturing care elements missing from UNICEF's C-IYCF CP. Sharing these practices can allow countries to make context-driven, evidence-informed decisions on the nurturing care content to prioritize.

[Intergenerational perceptions and practices in breastfeeding and child feeding among quilombola women in Goiás State, Brazil]

This exploratory qualitative study aimed to identify sociocultural and intergenerational aspects of perception and practices in child feeding among quilombola women, members of maroon communities in Brazil. A focus group with 12 mothers and another group with four grandmothers of children under five years of age were conducted in a rural quilombola community in the State of Goiás, Brazil. The data were analyzed with thematic content analysis, yielding four central themes and respective subthemes, which were then represented in a socioecological conceptual model with four levels of influence on child feeding as the outcome. Theme 1 dealt with the reasons for breastfeeding which included the child's health, financial issues, and positive maternal attitude toward breastfeeding. Theme 2 encompassed factors that negatively influence breastfeeding, such as the perception of "too little milk", use of teas, sequential pregnancy, and the child's characteristics. Theme 3 dealt with complementary feeding, generally introduced too early, including foods consumed by the family and ultra-processed foods. Theme 4 addressed the support network, consisting of the family and community dimension, featuring the grandmothers' role, acting in the intergenerational transmission of traditional knowledge and support for mothers, while health services, with educational activities related to breastfeeding, played a lesser role in quilombola women's decisions and practices. The promotion of adequate and healthy child feeding practices should address aspects of the quilombola women's sociocultural context and adopt emancipatory approaches, guaranteeing quality care for this population.

Barriers for early initiation and exclusive breastfeeding up to six months in predominantly rural Sri Lanka: a need to strengthen policy implementation

Background

Sri Lanka was named as the first-ever ‘Green’ breastfeeding nation status by the World Breastfeeding Trends Initiative (WBTi) in January 2020. However, improvements are still needed. This study aims to identify barriers and facilitators for early initiation of breastfeeding and exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months in rural Sri Lanka.

Methods

We conducted in-depth interviews with 16 mothers with infants, who had been unable to practice early initiation of breastfeeding and/or exclusive breastfeeding (EBF), in six child-welfare clinics in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka. Three focus group discussions were held with public health midwives (PHMs). Initial thematic analysis that built upon force field and social learning theories was performed.

Results

Main barriers for EBF were clustered at three time periods; during the first 2–3 days, 2–3 weeks, and 4–5 months postpartum. Early barriers included cesarean section pain, poor breast latch, maternal exhaustion, suboptimal maternity ward environment, and lack of support for breastfeeding. Around 2–3 weeks postpartum mothers introduced water or infant formula due to social norms and poor support. On-demand feeding was misunderstood. Around 4 and 5 months postpartum, EBF ended due to return to work. PHMs reported a heavy workload limiting their time to support breastfeeding.

Conclusion

EBF interruption was due to diverse individual- and environnmental- level barriers that varied across the first 6 months. To improve EBF, Sri Lanka should focus on strengthening policies for reducing the excessive rates of cesarean section, improving support in maternity ward facilities, fostering on-demand breastfeeding, enhancing support for working mothers and reducing the work load of PHMs.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13006-021-00378-0.