• español
    • English
    • português
  • English 
    • español
    • English
    • português
  • IRIS PAHO Home
  • PAHO website
  • Indexes
  • All Collections
  • About IRIS
  • Institutional Memory
  • Contact
JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.
View Item 
  •   IRIS PAHO Home
  • 1.PAHO Headquarters / Sede de la OPS
  • Publications / Publicaciones
  • General Publications / Publicaciones Generales
  • View Item
  •   IRIS PAHO Home
  • 1.PAHO Headquarters / Sede de la OPS
  • Publications / Publicaciones
  • General Publications / Publicaciones Generales
  • View Item

The Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative in Latin America and the Caribbean: Current status, challenges, and opportunities

Thumbnail
View/Open
English; 71 pages (5.657Mb)
Date
2016
ISBN
978-92-75-11877-1
Author
Pan American Health Organization
Metadata
Show full item record
Abstract
The Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) was launched in 1991 by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), with the goal of protecting, promoting and supporting breastfeeding in facilities that provide maternity services. Breastfeeding is associated with short- and long-term health benefits for both mother and child. For the mother, this includes prevention of breast and ovarian cancers, and some cardiovascular diseases. For children, the benefits include reduced morbidity and mortality, particularly in the neonatal period, and increased IQ. The BFHI has been shown to increase rates of exclusive breastfeeding, to reduce the incidence of gastrointestinal disease and atopic eczema during the first year of life, and to improve children’s IQ and academic performance. Yet despite its proven benefits and relevance to current global health goals, the BFHI has suffered from waning political and financial support in recent years. Meanwhile, recertification processes are not in place in most countries to ensure that BFHI standards are maintained at facilities that may have been certified long ago. The Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region has the highest percentage of births occurring in health facilities globally (89%), yet only about a third of infants are exclusively breastfed. Child health and development and maternal health outcomes in the region could benefit substantially from a reinvigoration of the BFHI. In 2013-2014, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) conducted a survey to assess the status of the initiative in PAHO’s LAC Member States. This report presents results from the survey and identifies specific challenges and opportunities for BFHI implementation in the LAC Region...
Translated title
La Iniciativa hospital amigo del niño en América Latina y el Caribe: Estado actual, retos y oportunidades
Subject
Maternal-Child Health Services; Breast Feeding; Hospital Services; Latin America; Caribbean Region
Category of PAHO Strategic Plan 2014-2019
Cat 3. Determinants of Health and Promoting Health throughout the Life Course
URI
https://iris.paho.org/handle/10665.2/18830
Collections
  • General Publications / Publicaciones Generales

Related items

Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.

  • Thumbnail

    Regional collaboration for the development of national childhood cancer plans in Latin America and the Caribbean 

    Loggetto, Patrícia; Jarquin-Pardo, Marta; Fuentes-Alabi, Soad; Vasquez, Liliana; Benitez Majano, Sara; Gonzalez Ruiz, Alejandra; Maza, Mauricio; Metzger, Monika L.; Friedrich, Paola; Luciani, Silvana; Lam, Catherine G. (2023-09-23)
    [ABSTRACT]. This article aims to describe the activities conducted by the National Childhood Cancer Plan Working Group to support the development of national childhood cancer plans in Latin America and the Caribbean in the ...
  • Thumbnail

    School Health Promotion in Latin America and the Caribbean: A Regional Assessment 

    Pan American Health Organization; Family, Health Promotion and Life Course (FPL) (Washington, D.C., PAHO, 2022-11-09)
    This report presents the results of a regional assessment of the status of school health and the health-promoting schools (HPS) approach conducted jointly by PAHO, UNESCO, UNICEF, and the World Bank during 2018–2019. The ...
  • Thumbnail

    Determinants of exclusive breastfeeding among Haitian children under 6 months of age 

    Decelles, Stéphane; Nardocci, Milena; Mildon, Alison; Salameh, Bana; Batal, Malek (2022-07-12)
    [ABSTRACT]. Objective. To identify the determinants of exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) among children under 6 months of age from three regions in the South and Grand’Anse Departments of Haiti. Methods. Data were pooled ...

Browse

All of IRIS PAHOCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsSeries TitleType of materialLanguageCategoryTechnical Unit/Country OfficeThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsSeries TitleType of materialLanguageCategoryTechnical Unit/Country Office

Statistics

View Usage Statistics

Pan American Health Organization
World Health Organization. Regional Office for the Americas
525 Twenty-third Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20037, United States of America
Tel.: +1 (202) 974-3000 Fax: +1 (202) 974-3663
email: libraryhq@paho.org

Links

  • PAHO Featured Publications
  • WHO Digital Library (IRIS)
  • Virtual Health Library (VHL)
  • Global Index Medicus (GIM)