Namibia scores zero on breastfeeding

Health facilities in Namibia do not fully meet recommended standards for breastfeeding as stipulated by Unicef and the World Health Organisation (WHO) and has therefore scored a zero in the latest global scorecard.This means not one of the country's hospitals or maternity facilities are baby-friendly or adhere to global breastfeeding principles. The Global Breastfeeding Scorecard was released at the start of World Breastfeeding Week alongside a new analysis demonstrating that an annual investment of only N$62 per newborn is required to increase the global rate of exclusive breastfeeding among children under six months to 50% by 2025.The health ministry spokesperson Libita Manga this week confirmed that Namibia last undertook a mother-baby friendly evaluation 20 years ago in 1995. “During the introduction of the baby friendly initiative, aggressive strategies were undertaken that saw most of state maternity facilities awarded the Mother-Baby Friendly initiative award,” she said.She added the 10 steps of breastfeeding are still not adhered to despite the ministry's rigorous breastfeeding campaign.According to WHO medical officer for child and adolescent health in Namibia, Dr Mary Nana Ama Brantuo, baby-friendly hospitals are subjected to a process which establishes whether it adheres to the 10 breastfeeding steps.These steps look at whether babies are put on their mother's breast when they are born, whether they sleep with their mothers, if the hospital has a written policy which promotes breastfeeding, whether the health workers have been trained and oriented. Mothers should also be encouraged to room with their babies which means they must be given time to bond and to breastfeed on demand.These hospitals must also encourage mothers not to use artificial teats or pacifiers and should foster the establishment of breastfeeding support groups and refer mothers to them upon discharge from the hospital or clinic.Brantuo, pointed out that civil society can play an important role to advocate and promote breastfeeding and the importance of baby-friendly hospitals. She added that some countries form a baby-friendly hospital initiative authority to ensure their facilities are assessed regularly. Namibia at present does not have such an initiative or committee. “In Namibia, we do not have that… I do not think we have that. We discussed the possibility to set up something like that last year,” she said. BreastfeedingAccording to the Global Scorecard on Breastfeeding, 71% of babies born in Namibia are put on the breast within one hour of birth. It further states that only 49% of babies born in Namibia are exclusively breastfed for the first five months. It also states that 64% continue to breastfeed until they are one year old while only 21% still breastfeed until they are two years old. Namibia's exclusive breastfeeding rates were last measured in 2013.Global picture Meanwhile, no country in the world fully meets recommended standards for breastfeeding, according to the report.A joint Unicef and WHO press release issued on Monday stated that it was found that of the 194 countries evaluated only 40% of children younger than six months are breastfed exclusively and only 23 countries have exclusive breastfeeding rates above 60%. JEMIMA BEUKES

Namibia scores zero on breastfeeding

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Namibian Sun 2025-07-07

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Namibia scores zero on breastfeeding

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Namibian Sun 2025-07-07

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