The Impact of Baby Friendly Initiative on the Promotion of Breastfeeding and Breastfeeding Rates in Saudi Arabia (Dissertation Sample)

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TUTOR
THE IMPACT OF BABY FRIENDLY INITIATIVE ON THE PROMOTION OF BREASTFEEDING AND BREAST FEEDING RATES IN SAUDI ARABIA
ABSTRACT
Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative is a program that was started by the World Health Organization and United Nations Children’s Fund in order to promote the practice of breastfeeding in mothers. Breastfeeding is a very critical practice which has confers benefits for both the mother and baby. The main purpose of the study was to find out the impact of Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative on the promotion of breast feeding in Saudi Arabia and the rest of the world by means of carrying out a systematic review.
The systematic review brought out all the concerning issues into light and relevant studies obtained by search methodology discussed the issues such as the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative, and the hospital initiatives that have a positive impact on the rate and duration of breast feeding. It was reported that the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative does have a positive impact on initiation of breast feeding by mothers. Positive association was observed between the hospital interventions that are aimed at encouraging mothers to practice breast feeding for an optimal duration of time. The systematic review concluded that there existed a positive effect of implementing the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative in maternity health facilities, but a few more studies need to be carried out on a wider scale incorporating various maternity health facilities, to obtain better results for practical implementation. The primary objective of the literature review was to provide evidence that supported the adoption and implementation of the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative. The objective was accomplished through a systematic literature that provided data on the positive effect of the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative on to initiation of breastfeeding. The results of the literature reviewed showed the effectiveness of adopting this initiative in maternity health facilities in order to increase some aspects of breast feeding like the initiation rate.
In conclusion, the study was able to meet its objective using a quality controlled study design. It showed that Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative does have a positive impact on the rate of breast feeding in mothers.
CHAPTER ONE
The Impact of baby friendly initiative on the promotion of breastfeeding and breastfeeding rates in Saudi Arabia.
1 INTRODUCTION
In the year 1992, the United Nation’s Children Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO) created the Baby Friendly Initiative which is a programme that extends to all parts of the world. This initiative was started to motivate maternity hospitals to put in place the ten steps that lead to breastfeeding being successful, and for the hospitals to work in line with the international code of marketing of breast milk supplements. Different countries have other programs which work in conjunction with breastfeeding friendly initiative. For example, in the United Kingdom, they put into practice the seven point plan for sustaining breastfeeding in the society, they also run a University Standards programme for courses for those studying to become midwives or health visitors.
The initiative works in conjunction with the systems of health care in able to maintain optimum standards of health care in relation to feeding of infants for pregnant women and babies and mothers. Facilities providing health care services receive support in able to put into practice the best practices and an evaluation and accreditation procedure identifies the health facilities that have attained the established standard.
As a patient educator, I come into contact with pregnant women and breast feeding mothers. Through these contacts that I have made, I have learnt and observe a lot on the issue of breastfeeding. I have also attended and participated in antenatal classes where I was involved in teaching the pregnant women on the importance of breastfeeding and the proper method of breastfeeding an infant. In general, I have witnessed a decline in the practice of exclusive breastfeeding and initiation of breast feeding in Saudi Arabia and in the rest of the world. This has been to the detriment of both the mothers and their babies. Breastfeeding is, therefore, a major health issue in the whole world because it is right for a mother and infant.
2 BACKGROUND
Breastfeeding has a number of benefits for the mother, one of the benefits is the fact that it is convenient for the mother; therefore, it is easy for her to practice it. Breastfeeding is also economical for the mother, and she does not incur any costs in order to practice it. For the mother it is emotionally satisfying to breastfeed her baby. Breastfeeding helps in the contraction of the uterus and intensifies the speed at which the uterus involutes during the postpartum period. Breastfeeding helps the mother to bond with her infant, it builds her self confidence and improves the maternal tolerance to stress by an oxytocin associated antifight or fight response. For the mother who practices breastfeeding, she enjoys the benefit of enhanced gastrointestinal motility and absorption. The ovulation cycle is delayed in those who practice exclusive breastfeeding. Breast may also protect the mother against premenopausal cancer and ovarian cancer.
Benefits are enjoyed also by the infant who is breastfed; one of them is a decreased incidence of lower respiratory tract infection, diarrhea, otitis media, urinary tract infections, invasive bacterial infection, necrotizing enterocolitis, pneumonia, and sudden death infant syndrome. An advantage that breast milk has is that it is digestible, made up of ideal composition needed by the baby, it is available at the right temperature, free of any bacterial contamination, and available at the right time for the baby. Breastfed babies have a reduced risk of developing insulin dependent diabetes, ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, allergic disease, and lymphoma. Infants who are breastfed have very little likelihood of developing obesity as neonates and adolescents. Breastfeeding helps the baby bond with the mother, and it helps the baby improve their cognitive development and intelligence.
Breastfeeding has been recognized as an important public issue which needs to be addressed. This is because of the differences seen between those who breastfeed their infants and those who do not. It is reported that approximately one million deaths of children in the developing countries can be stopped if their governments promote the women to breastfeed their children. Diarrhea and pneumonia are the top two causes of death; they lead to millions of children dying every year. All this deaths can be prevented by promoting and ensuring that women breastfeed their children. This points to the fact that promotion of breastfeeding in mothers and expectant women is crucial in our community since it is a public health issue. Only around 40 percent of mothers who live in developing countries breastfeed their infants, therefore, there is still a big gap which is yet to be filled through breastfeeding education.
3 RATIONALE OF THE STUDY
1 Problem statement
Globally only around 36% of infants who are below six months of age are exclusively breastfed, this was among the main reasons that the World Health Organization and the United Nation’s Children Fund decided to introduce the Baby Friendly Initiative whose goal would be to ensure the ten steps that would lead to successful breastfeeding. It was introduced with principles which were created to cover the functions of community health care services. Later the initiative launched a set of University Best Practice Standards in the process of accrediting those Universities which offer midwifery and health visiting courses. It was initiated to provide support for upgrading the role of maternity services to ensure that mother’s breastfeed their babies for them to have the optimal beginning in life. It was aimed at boosting the care of expectant women, mothers and neonates at health facilities that offer maternity services with the goal of protecting, enhancing and supporting breastfeeding. The breastfeeding that they promote has to be in line with the International Code of Marketing of Breast Milk Substitutes. The goal of Baby Friendly Initiative is to improve the number of mothers who exclusively breastfeed their babies in the whole world. It is proposed that it could lead to a reduction of childhood deaths by a million children each year.
Many of the causes of childhood death are preventable; they include pneumonia, diarrhea, and malnutrition among others. They can be prevented through ensuring that babies receive proper nutrition which will boost their immunologic status. These diseases lead to millions of childhood deaths every year in the developing world. All this have been shown to be preventable in those babies who are breastfed with consistency. The cellular response and immune system of neonates is immature, the IgA and IgM antibodies are few and unable to mount up an effective immune response. Immunoglobulins are transferred from the mother to the baby through the breast milk. This provides a boost to the infant’s immune system which is developing, it, therefore, improves the neonatal defense against infections, like pneumonia and diarrhea.
The Baby Friendly Initiative helps in promoting the rates of breastfeeding among mothers. There are a couple of ways that this initiative promotes the practice of breastfeeding among mothers. One of the ways that it helps in improving the rate of breastfeeding among mothers who have just delivered is by provision of the necessary support that is necessary for this to be successful. Support provided by the initiative is one of the co...