Background: The mode of delivery influences breastfeeding practices. High rates of caesarean section and low breastfeeding rates are important public health concerns for all developing countries. This study aimed to determine the relationship between caesarean section and early breastfeeding practices among primiparae. Methods: Data for primiparae with a singleton birth (N = 777) obtained from the 2013 Turkey Demographic and Health Survey were used in this retrospective cohort study. Early initiation of breastfeeding within one hour of delivery and exclusive breastfeeding during the first three days following birth were evaluated. Standardised incidence rates and standardised rate ratios of non-early initiation of breastfeeding and non-exclusive breastfeeding were calculated according to the mode of delivery. Results: The late initiation of breastfeeding and non-exclusive breastfeeding incidence rates were 42.7 and 41.0%, respectively. The standardised incidence rate of late initiation of breastfeeding among women with vaginal delivery was 35.34%, versus 50.49% among those with caesarean delivery. The standardised rate ratios for late initiation of breastfeeding and non-exclusive breastfeeding were 1.428 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.212-1.683) and 1.468 (95% CI: 1.236-1.762), respectively. Women who underwent caesarean section had a higher risk of late initiation of breastfeeding and non-exclusive breastfeeding during the three days following delivery, after controlling for sociodemographic and delivery-related factors. Conclusions: This study provides useful evidence for the implementation of strategies to prevent unnecessary caesarean sections, which negatively affect not only maternal health but also neonatal health. The promotion of mother-friendly policies by healthcare institutions, implemented in a baby-friendly manner, is essential.

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BackgroundThroughout Turkey, violence that women have been subjected to is still widespread. Murder of women or femicide involve intentional-murder-of-women because they are women and increasing worldwide as it is in Turkey. In spite of juristic-regulations and precautions made to prevent violence against women, femicide in Turkey has not stopped-proof that the problem is structural in-nature. Collecting correct-data on femicide is challenging, largely because police and medical-data-collection-systems on homicide often do not have satisfactory-information or do not report the victim–perpetrator relationship or the motives, let alone gender-related motivations for murder. The study objective is to collect data on number and some characteristics of femicide in 2012 in the newspapers and compare the numbers them with other available data.Methods2012 issues of four top-newspapers from different media-agencies are reviewed. For every femicide a file-created, and collected-data from four-newspapers merged according to the 37 items of data-collection-sheet.Results202 femicide cases were found. Of the victims 31.7% were aged 25–34, 43.1% were married, 59.4% had children, 4% were pregnant. Of the perpetrators, 26.7% were aged 25–34, 56.9% were married, 48.5% had children, 41.1% were the victim’s-husband, 7.4% were the victim’s-separated-spouse, 5.9% were the victim’s-ex-husband, 19.3% were victim’s-boyfriend and 4.5% were victim’s-ex-boyfriend. Of the femicides, 33% had discord, 18.4% had violence, 9.4% had intimidation-history. 8.9% of women demanded police-protection. Firearm use was 44.2%, and 54.5% cases’ place of death was home.ConclusionsA huge gap between existing laws and what is happening in reality and femicide which is a common criminal problem in Turkey. But data is not consistent. In 2012, according to newspapers 202, Ministry of Family and Social Policies 145, woman organisations 210 femicide were detected mainly due to the definition-differences. In spite of the limitations, newspapers are the only accessible-source at the national-level. The penalties of the Law (Protection-of-the-Family-and-the-Prevention-of-Violence-against-Women) are not a deterrent force and in spite of juristic regulations and precautions made to prevent violence against women, femicide in Turkey has not stopped-proof that the problem is structural in nature. Thus, ending this problem requires additional reforms and the establishment of new sustainable policies with the ultimate aim of reconstructing society.

Background: The mother-friendly care model and mother-friendly programmes are powerful responses to solve problems in maternity care services including high rates of caesarean section, low breastfeeding rates, and women’s rights issues. Aims: This paper describes the development and implementation of the mother-friendly hospital programme of Turkey. Methods: The Ministry of Health initiated the mother-friendly hospital programme in 2010. National mother-friendly hospital standards, guidelines and evaluation tools were developed. Implementation began in 2015. Results: Training activities were carried out to enable health care workers (e.g. physicians, midwives, nurses) to train staff of hospitals applying to the programme, and to evaluate and monitor their maternity services; 455 health care workers were trained. Participation in the programme is voluntary and hospitals apply for certification. To apply, the hospital’s caesarean section rate must be lower than the country average. As of January 2020, 73 hospitals have been certified as mother-friendly hospitals. Conclusion: As a practical implementation of the mother-friendly approach, Turkey’s experience may be useful to other health systems.