Baby-Friendly e-Newsletter : Baby Friendly Watch (Nov 2018)

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Implementation Guidance on the Revised Baby-friendly Hospital Initiative (WHO & UNICEF, 2018)

Dr Patricia IP
Chairperson, Committee on Designation of Baby-friendly Health Facilities
Vice Chairperson, Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative Hong Kong Association
 

Introduction
Breastfeeding matters, no less now than in 1991, when WHO / UNICEF launched the Baby-friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI). With the scaling up of breastfeeding, there could be 820,000 less under-5 deaths of children and 20,000 less deaths of mothers from breast cancer each year¹ and USD 300 million added to the global economy.² The contribution of breastfeeding to the reduction of non-communicable diseases is well recognised¹ and the environmental impact of tons of carbon dioxide emission from formula feeding cannot be ignored.³ Fundamentally, enabling a baby to be breastfed realises a child’s right to survival, development, protection and participation.  Both the child has the right to the highest standard of health and the mother the right to ample support to carry out her informed choice on infant feeding.

On this basis, WHO reviewed the evidence of the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding and the implementation of BFHI⁴ recently, as it was estimated, even in 2016, only 10% of births takes place in designated baby-friendly hospitals (BFH) and many designated hospitals have not been revalidated. A number of recommendations emerged from the review, leading to the “Implementation Guidance on Protecting, Promoting and Supporting Breastfeeding in Faciliies providing Maternity and Newborn Services: the Revised Baby-friendly Hospital Initiative” being published in 2018.⁵

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For the whole article and the note of References, please click PDF version.

Views expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or position of the BFHIHKA.

作者在本文章表達的見解，未必代表愛嬰醫院香港協會的意見或立場。

Editor-in-Chief: Dr Shirley Leung

All rights reserved by Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative Hong Kong Association.

愛嬰醫院香港協會，版權所有。