DOH Breastfeeding TSEK Program 2011 – PRECEDE-PROCEED Analysis

Introduction and Program Rationale

The protection, promotion, and support of breastfeeding rank among the most effective interventions to improve child’s survival. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), it is estimated that high coverage of optimal breastfeeding practices could avert 13% of the 10.6 million yearly deaths of children five years old and below.

Everyday, as many as 4,000 infants and young children die worldwide because they are not breastfed. According to United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), it is because their mothers are not empowered with adequate knowledge about breast-feeding and do not receive enough motivation and support (UNICEF, 1994). Babies, their mothers, their families, their community, their environment, even the economy of the country in which they live, all benefit from breast-feeding (ibid).

Realizing the great advantages of breast-feeding and the changing patterns of breast-feeding practice worldwide, the World Health Organization, 1981, recommended that all infants should be “exclusively breastfed for 4 to 6 months of age”(Kaunang, 1999). Moreover, UNICEF(1994) has advocated breast-feeding as one of the strategies for “ Child Survival” and exclusive breast-feeding as a best protective way for infants against infection and malnutrition. Nowadays, promotion of breast-feeding through Family Planning and MCH Programs is increasingly considered to be a public health policy priority especially in developing societies (Tin Oo, 1995).

The Department of Health (DOH) advocates exclusive breastfeeding as part of their campaign in supporting the international goals of both the WHO and UNICEF in promoting infant health improvement and decreasing mortality rates.

“Six months of exclusive breastmilk – no water, infant formula, other liquid, or food for