NIGERIA-HEALTH: Government Designates Baby-Friendly Hospitals

By Toye Olori Reprint | | Print |

Toye Olori

LAGOS, Oct 21 1997 (IPS) - In more than 500 hospitals throughout Nigeria, the government has banned the promotion of infant formulas in a bid to promote breast-feeding in this West African nation.

The designated “baby-friendly” hospitals are the start of a nationwide campaign to combat the superstition and ignorance which has kept Nigerian mothers from exclusively breastfeeding their babies.

So far, 572 hospitals have been designated as baby-friendly, where breastfeeding is exclusively promoted. Some 176 more health institutions are expected to join the practice before the end of this year, health officials say.

According to figures from the latest edition of Annual Abstract of Statistics by the Ministry of Statistics, as of 1991, Nigeria had a total of 11,577 health centres of which 10,827 were public.

Nigeria announced the ban late last week. The measure, health officials predict, should help to reduce infant mortality in the country.

In 1991, the Nigerian government in cooperation with the United Nation’s Childrens Fund (UNICEF) first initiated a breast-feeding programme.

“At present, the country loses 114 out of 1,000 infants, one of the highest in the world, ” says John Egbuta, a programme officer for UNICEF. “But with more mothers embracing exclusively the breast-feeding practice, infant mortality is expected to fall to 70 deaths per 1,000 infants,” Egbuta predicts.

Egbuta adds that although breast-feeding has increased in the country because of awareness campaigns since 1991, only an estimated 2.1 percent of Nigerian nursing mothers breast-feed their babies exclusively at present.

Health experts say that traditional beliefs and superstitions have stalled efforts to dissaude mothers from using infant formulas.

Some mothers at a breast-feeding seminar organised by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Federal Ministry of Health recently said that they are often pressured by family members, especially mothers-in-laws, to give their infants baby formula or pap (a porridge prepared from maize).

Working mothers, who nurse young babies, say that they find it difficult to breast-feed exclusively, because their work schedules are not flexible enough for them to stay long with their new babies. Nigerian labour regulations provide mothers with three months maternity leave.

“I am going through hell. There is no way I can comply with the solely six months (breast) feeding, with my tight schedule at work. There have been many complaints from my boss and even my colleagues when I leave the office before the close of work to see my baby,” says Sabainah Anore, whose home is about two kilometres from her office at the Federal Secretariat here.

Anore, whose baby is four months old, says although she leaves her own milk behind, it is not sufficient for the whole day, so she has had to supplement with other drinks.

Reports from other parts of the country say because of the high cost of artificial baby formula and the dwindling purchasing power of most Nigerians, breast-feeding is gaining grounds among women.

“The demand for tinned baby formula has dropped drastically in Lokoja (capital of the middlebelt state of Kogi) as most mothers now engage in breast-feeding their children following extensive campaigns on breast-feeding,” says a journalist in Lokoja.