The 2022 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey (GDHS) has revealed that 47.4% of infants aged 0 to 5 months in Ghana were not exclusively breastfed.
This means about 53% of children under 6 months were exclusively breastfed.
Exclusive breastfeeding means no other food or drink, not even water, except breastmilk (including milk expressed or from a wet nurse) for the first 6 months of life, with the exception of rehydration solution (ORS), drops and syrups (vitamins, minerals and medicines), according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The recent figure has seen only a modest increase of 0.8 percentage points over the past twenty years, from 46.6% in 2003 to the current level.
Additionally, the survey reveals that 41.8% of children born in the two years preceding the 2022 GDHS did not begin breastfeeding within the crucial first hour after birth.
Notably, in three regions, Greater Accra (56.2%), Ahafo (56.1%), and Eastern (51.7%), more than half of newborns missed this timely initiation.
Conversely, Bono East (29.4%) and Volta (31.6%) had the lowest percentages of delayed breastfeeding initiation.
“In three regions, more than half of the children did not start breastfeeding within the first hour of life: Greater Accra (56.2%), Ahafo (56.1%), and Eastern (51.7%). The region with the lowest percentage that did not initiate breastfeeding within the first hour was Bono East (29.4%) followed by Volta (31.6%),” a part of the survey released by the Ghana Statistical Service in commemoration of World Breastfeeding Week further read.
In observance of World Breastfeeding Week, which is celebrated annually in the first week of August to underscore the significance of breastfeeding and advocate for improved breastfeeding support, the 2024 theme is “Closing the Gap: Breastfeeding Support for All.”
Breastmilk is the ideal food for infants.
Why breastmilk?
The bulleted points from the WHO are reasons infants should be breastfed.
- Breastmilk provides all the energy and nutrients that the infant needs for the first months of life, and it continues to provide up to half or more of a child’s nutritional needs during the second half of the first year, and up to one-third during the second year of life.
- Breastfeeding reduces the risk of acute infections such as diarrhoea, pneumonia, ear infection, Haemophilus influenzae, meningitis and urinary tract infection.
- It also protects against chronic conditions in the future such as type I diabetes, ulcerative colitis, and Crohn’s disease.
- Breastfeeding during infancy is associated with lower mean blood pressure and total serum cholesterol.
- Breastfed children perform better on intelligence tests, are less likely to be overweight or obese and less prone to type 2 diabetes during adolescence and adult life.
- Women who breastfeed also have a reduced risk of breast and ovarian cancers.
- Breastfeeding delays the return of a woman’s fertility and reduces the risks of post-partum haemorrhage, pre-menopausal breast cancer and ovarian cancer.
Complementary feeding at 6 months
At 6 months of age, an infant’s need for energy and nutrients starts to exceed what is provided by breastmilk, and complementary foods are necessary to meet those needs. An infant of this age is also developmentally ready for other foods.
Introduce nutritionally adequate and safe complementary foods while continuing to breastfeed for up to 2 years of age or beyond. If complementary foods are not introduced around the age of 6 months, or if they are given inappropriately, an infant’s growth may falter.