Almost half of infants under 6 months not being exclusively breastfed – GSS

The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) per its 2022 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey (GDHS) has disclosed that 47.4% of children aged 0 to 5 months in Ghana were not being exclusively breastfed.

The report also noted that the percentage of children not being exclusively breastfed has stagnated over the past two decades with a marginal increase between 2003 and 2022.

The GSS in a release on August 3 to mark the World Breastfeeding Day, revealed that in Ghana the initiation and duration of exclusive breastfeeding falls short of the recommendation by the World Health Organisation.

The WHO’s recommendation is that children should initiate breastfeeding within the first hour of birth and be exclusively breastfed for the first 6 months of life.

However, in its report, GSS said two in every five (41.8%) children born in the two years preceding the 2022 GDHS did not start breastfeeding within the first hour of life.

The statement added that in three regions, more than half of the children did not start breastfeeding within the first hour of life: Greater Accra (56.2%), Ahafo (56.1%), and Eastern (51.7%).

The region with the lowest percentage that did not initiate breastfeeding within the first hour was Bono East (29.4%) followed by Volta (31.6%).

“Nationally, the median duration for exclusive breastfeeding was 2.9 months. The Western North Region had the shortest median duration for exclusive breastfeeding of one month followed by the Western (1.2 months) and the Greater Accra (1.4 months) regions.

“Half of the 16 regions had a median duration for exclusive breastfeeding of less than three months. The Savannah Region had the longest median duration for exclusive breastfeeding (4.7 months) followed by the Volta Region (4.4 months),” GSS stated.

World Breastfeeding Week is commemorated annually during the first week in August to highlight the importance of breastfeeding and to promote access to breastfeeding support and opportunities. The theme for 2024 is “Closing the Gap: Breastfeeding Support for All”.

The post Almost half of infants under 6 months not being exclusively breastfed – GSS first appeared on 3News.

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