Prevalence of Exclusive Breastfeeding and its Predictors among mothers in Micheweni, Chake-Chake and North ‘A’ districts, Zanzibar

Abstract

Objective: Generally, child's feeding practices especially exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) is affected by individual, social, cultural, and health services related factors. Planning, implementation and evaluation of programs to promote Infant and Young child's Feeding (IYCF) require detailed current information about these factors. This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of EBF and identify factors that predicted EBF among mothers in Micheweni, Chake-Chake, and North 'A' districts in Zanzibar.Methods: This is a community based cross-sectional study conducted among 303 mother-infant pairs aged up to 6 months. Standardised questionnaire was used to record infant's characteristics including age, gender, and place of delivery. Mothers were interviewed about their current breastfeeding practices, their knowledge regarding breastfeeding and support they obtained from their husbands, grandmothers and other family members. Both univariate and multivariate analysis were used to identify prevalence and predictors to EBF.Results: The prevalence of EBF in this study was found to be at 20.8% (n=63). Mother's knowledge was good regarding some breastfeeding practices, however; many of them didn't practice EBF. After multiple logistic regressions, variables that predicted EBF were: current age of mother, number of children under five, time when a mother is away from her child, place of delivery, support from madrassa and health centres, and knowledge about breastfeeding. The odds of mothers to EBF their babies were found to be significantly higher for: young mothers aged 21-25 years (AOR=7.4; 95% CI, 1.76-31.9), children who were born at the hospital (AOR=2.66; 95% CI; 1.37-5.17), and mothers who were strongly supported from community classes or madrassa (AOR=10.6; 95% CI, 2.8-39.75).Conclusion: Although majority of mothers have shown a good understanding on the importance of breastfeeding, the prevalence of EBF was still low. Factors affecting EBF are multifaceted; thus, government through its ministries should intensify EBF promotions for reduction of childhood malnutrition.

Prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding among recently delivered women in Block Hazratbal, District Srinagar

“…In a study conducted by Sapna Patil et al in slums in Western India the percent of infants given prelacteal was similar to our study (5) . In another study conducted by Ahmed GharibKhamis et al in Zanzibar, the percentage of infants who were given a prelacteal was similar to our study (9) . The prelacteal was the most common reason for nonexclusively breast fed infants followed by lactation failure in the mother.…”

“…Avoiding colostrum and giving prelacteal feed and bottle feeding the child are contributory factors for development of diarrhoea and pneumonia in the infant which may ultimately lead to high infant mortality (8) . Poor feeding may also increase the risk of malnutrition in the children which may in turn lead to increased morbidity and mortality (9) . As per NFHS 4, the prevalence of exclusively breast fed children under age 3 in India is 41.6% which has improved over last 10 years as NFHS 3 prevalence was as low as 23.4%.…”

Exclusive breastfeeding among Saudi mothers: Exposing the substantial gap between knowledge and practice

“…[21] This erratically worrying downhill trend in exclusive breastfeeding reflects the substantial variability in data across regions and time in Saudi Arabia, which makes interpretation difficult. [22] However, the 16.3% prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding, uncovered by our study, is almost equivalent to the 17% rate reported in Nigeria[23] and 12.5% in Egypt,[24] but clearly compares less favorably to results published from studies in Zanzibar (20.8%),[25] Ghana (38%),[26] Bangladesh (36%),[27] and Tanzania (24.1%). [28] Indeed, a lot will need to be done in terms of promoting exclusive breastfeeding to Saudi women, specifically in Taif region.…”

Prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding among mothers in the informal sector, Kampala Uganda

“…Sample size was calculated using the Bennet formula for cluster surveys; C = Z 2 P (1− P ) D / d 2 b [ 17 ]. The sample size was based on an EBF prevalence among working women from a recent study in neighboring Tanzania which was 20% [ 18 ], confidence interval of 95% (at a Z-score of 1.96), absolute error of precision of 5%, a design effect of two [ 2 ] and a non-response rate of 13% [ 19 ]. This gave us 20 clusters and a sample size of 428; with a minimum of 22 respondents from 8 clusters and 21 from the rest.…”