The revitalization and scale-up of the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative in Malawi.

Abstract

The Baby‐Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) has shown to strengthen health providers' skills in the provision of breastfeeding counselling and support, which have led to improvements in breastfeeding outcomes. In Malawi, where BFHI was introduced in 1993 but later languished due to losses in funding, the Maternal and Child Survival Program supported the Malawi Ministry of Health (MOH) in the revitalization and scale‐up of BFHI in 54 health facilities across all 28 districts of the country. This paper describes the revitalization and scale‐up process within the context of an integrated health project; successes, challenges, and lessons learned with BFHI implementation; and the future of BFHI in Malawi. More than 80,000 mothers received counselling on exclusive breastfeeding following childbirth prior to discharge from the health facility. Early initiation of breastfeeding was tracked quarterly from baseline through endline via routine MOH health facility data. Increases in early initiation of breastfeeding were seen in two of the three regions of Malawi: by 2% in the Central region and 6% in the Southern region. Greater integration of BFHI into Malawi's health system is recommended, including improved preservice and in‐service trainings for health providers to include expanded BFHI content, increased country financial investments in BFHI, and integration of BFHI into national clinical guidelines, protocols, and nutrition and health policies.