Welcome
to the
Baby Friendly Health Initiative
The Baby Friendly Health
Initiative (BFHI) is an international project that aims to give
every baby the best start in life by creating a health care environment
where breastfeeding is the norm and practices known to promote
the health and well-being of all babies and their mothers are
followed.
The BFHI Ten Steps
to Successful Breastfeeding are the global standard by which health
services are assessed and accredited. A 'Baby Friendly' health
service is one where mothers' informed choice of feeding is supported,
respected and encouraged.
The recent name change
from Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative to Baby Friendly Health
Initiative was to more accurately describe the work the Initiative
is now doing. With the exciting developments in the Community
Baby Friendly part of the Initiative it was felt that this name
change was a very appropriate and positive move.
In Australia, the Australian
College of Midwives administers the Baby Friendly Health Initiative.
Events
News
The
Did You Know(
available here) power point presentation has been developed
by Majorie Atchan to help promote World Breastfeeding Week. She
has done a fantastic job and it will be great to share it with as
many people as possible.
The slides could be used as a presentation, or as single slides.
Congratulations Marjorie on a fantastic presentation.
There are currently 63 Baby
Friendly accredited Health Services in Australia
BFHI
FAQ
Purchase
BFHI Information Package
Purchase
posters for Ten steps and breastfeeding promotion
Success Stories
-
In
Cuba, where 49 of the country's 56 Healths and maternity facilities
are baby-friendly, the rate of exclusive breastfeeding at four
mounths almost tripled in six years - from 25 per cent in 1990
to 72 per cent in 1996.
-
In
the first two years of BFHI implementation at the Central Health
of Libreville in Gabon, cases of neonatal diarrhoea fell by
15 per cent, diarrhoeal dehydration declined by 14 per cent
and mortality fell by 8 per cent.
-
In
China, which now has more than 6,000 Baby-Friendly Health services,
exclusive breastfeeding in rural areas rose from 29 per cent
in 1992 to 68 per cent in 1994; in urban areas, the increase
was from 10 per cent to 48 per cent.
-
The
Catholic University of Chile, Santiago, initiated one of the
first Baby-Friendly Health services. As a result, initiation
of breastfeeding within the first two hours increased. With
a strong Step 10, a monthly clinic, exclusive breastfeeding
at 6 months increased from approximately 20% to over 60%.