Health Behaviors

Family experiences of infant and young child feeding in lower-income countries: protocol for a systematic review of qualitative studies. BACKGROUND: Infant and young child feeding practices, including breastfeeding and complementary feeding of children under 2 years old, are crucially influenced by parent and family perceptions and experiences. Given the urgent need to improve nutrition of young […]

A formative study to inform mHealth based randomized controlled trial intervention to promote exclusive breastfeeding practices in Myanmar: incorporating qualitative study findings. BACKGROUND: Undernutrition is a major concern for Myanmar children with low exclusive breastfeeding rate (24%). A formative study was conducted to explore the perceptions and practices relating to exclusive breastfeeding, and barriers and […]

Translating formative research findings into a behaviour change strategy to promote antenatal calcium and iron and folic acid supplementation in western Kenya. The World Health Organization now recommends integrating calcium supplements into antenatal micronutrient supplementation programmes to prevent pre-eclampsia, a leading cause of maternal mortality. As countries consider integrating calcium supplementation into antenatal care (ANC), […]

The challenges of adherence to infant feeding choices in prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV infections in South East Nigeria. BACKGROUND: Global and national efforts in the 21st century are directed toward the elimination of new pediatric HIV infections through evidence-based infant feeding interventions for the prevention of mother-to-child-transmission, with patient preference, motivation, and adherence […]

Promoting safe infant feeding practices – the importance of structural, social and contextual factors in Southern Africa. There has been significant progress towards the goal of eliminating vertical transmission of HIV by 2015. However, a question that remains is how we can most effectively prevent late postnatal transmission of HIV through infant feeding. Guidelines published […]

Breastfeeding in infancy: identifying the program-relevant issues in Bangladesh. BACKGROUND: In Bangladesh, many programs and projects have been promoting breastfeeding since the late 1980 s. Breastfeeding practices, however, have not improved accordingly. METHODS: For identifying program-relevant issues to improve breastfeeding in infancy, quantitative data were collected through visits to households (n = 356) in rural […]

Acceptability of complementary foods and breads prepared from zinc-fortified cereal flours among young children and adults in Senegal We completed a series of studies to assess the acceptability of zinc-fortified, cereal-based complementary foods and zinc-fortified wheat breads. Young children and their caregivers completed acceptability tests with complementary foods fortified with iron only (60 mg iron […]

Breastfeeding and mixed feeding practices in Malawi: timing, reasons, decision makers, and child health consequences. BACKGROUND: In order to effectively promote exclusive breastfeeding, it is important to first understand who makes child-care and child-feeding decisions, and why those decisions are made; as in most parts of the world, exclusive breastfeeding until 6 months of age […]

Breastfeeding promotion in Thailand. National Breastfeeding Project in Thailand began in 1989. The main activities were the promotion of the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative; legislation on maternity leave; and the Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes and related products. The development of Baby – Friendly Hospital Initiative may in part explain the increasing of prevalence rate […]

Breastfeeding in Botswana: practices, attitudes, patterns, and the socio-cultural factors affecting them. A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted in four randomly selected districts of Botswana. Two study sites were chosen in each district. Four hundred households with children under 3 years old were enrolled into the study. A structured questionnaire was administered to mothers of […]