Transforming Health Facilities into Mother-Baby Friendly Centers: Experience of World Vision, East African Maternal Newborn and Child Health Project in Kitgum District, Uganda, 2016

Abstract

The Baby Friendly Health facility Initiative (BFHI) is a health care environment which supports, protects and promotes breastfeeding as a norm. The World Vision Uganda East African Maternal Newborn and Child Health (EAMNCH) project supported its implementation with a focus on the Transformation of 24 health facilities into Mother-Baby Friendly in Kitgum district. Four (4) out of twelve (12) health facilities that participated in the external assessment scored 75% and above, and this is the required minimum score for a health facility to be certified as Baby Friendly. The four are: St Joseph's Hospital (81%), Orom HCiii (75%), Loborom HCiii (75%), and Akilok HCiii (75%). From the findings, it's recommended that health facilities should actively engage the Village Health Teams (VHTs) in their catchment areas to strengthen Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) community support to strengthen community-health facility linkages.