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Abstract
BackgroundThe World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that donor human milk is superior to artificial infant formula in situations where the baby cannot feed on the mother’s breastmilk. The purpose of this study was to determine the acceptability of donor human milk banking among health workers in Zimbabwean urban settings.MethodsA cross sectional study was conducted among 535 health workers and 15 key informants. Three referral hospitals were purposively selected and systematic random sampling was used to select the health workers. The study was conducted between October 2017 and October 2018.ResultsThe concept of donor human milk banking was acceptable among health workers. One-third (31%) of the study participants reported that they would accept donor breastmilk for their children while 56% of them would encourage their clients to donate breastmilk. Acceptance of donor human milk banking was associated with a high level of knowledge on breastmilk banks (p = 0.009) and the study participants’ health profession (p = 0.001). Clinical staff were more receptive to donor human milk banking compared to non-clinical health workers. Donor human milk banking was not associated with religion (p = 0.498) or marital status (p = 0.714).ConclusionsThe results showed that health workers and policy informers would accept the establishment of breastmilk banks subject to resource availability. Commitment to the establishment of breastmilk banks was moderately acceptable among opinion leaders responsible for spearheading health and nutrition policies.
Highlights
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that donor human milk is superior to artificial infant formula in situations where the baby cannot feed on the mother’s breastmilk
Exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) is currently estimated at 61% and efforts to encourage EBF are mainly advanced through the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) and community-based infant and young child feeding (IYCF) promotion led by the Ministry of Health and Child Care [17, 18]
Of the 535 health workers who participated in the study 72% were female, 47% were nurses, 66% were married and 5% had previously worked in a setting with a breastmilk bank (Table 1)
Summary
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that donor human milk is superior to artificial infant formula in situations where the baby cannot feed on the mother’s breastmilk. Successful implementation of donor human milk (DHM) banks in settings with high HIV prevalence has been. Breastfeeding benefits both the child and the mother resulting in improved future intelligence, economic development and reduced mortality [7,8,9,10,11,12]. Breastmilk, whether mother’s own milk or DHM, is viewed as superior to infant formula even in HIV prevalent areas [1, 13, 14]. Exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) is currently estimated at 61% and efforts to encourage EBF are mainly advanced through the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) and community-based infant and young child feeding (IYCF) promotion led by the Ministry of Health and Child Care [17, 18]
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