Breastfeed4Ghana FAQs : Frequently Asked Questions
WHAT IS BREASTFEED4GHANA? Breastfeed4Ghana is a social media-based campaign to promote, protect and support breastfeeding to ultimately improve the health of infants and mothers in Ghana.
WHO IS IT FOR? This campaign is for mothers, families, co-workers, employers, health professionals and the general public. Our aim will be to spread high quality, accurate and relevant information and resources on breastfeeding. Such as the health benefits of breastfeeding and the needs of breastfeeding women at home, in public and in the work place.
HOW DOES IT WORK? Breastfeed4Ghana will share information on Facebook and Twitter, and we will respond to input from the community. Make sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter to keep up to date on all our campaign activities and send us your questions, comments and suggestions. Let’s work together to promote, protect and support breastfeeding!
WHY IS THIS CAMPAIGN HAPPENING? Breastfeeding gives babies a healthy start to life that lasts a lifetime. Breastfeeding protects infants from illness and the risk of being overweight later in life. If the number of infants breastfed increased globally, about 800,000 child lives would be saved each year.1 Breastfeeding also lowers mothers’ risk of type 2 diabetes (or ‘sugar disease’) and ovarian and breast cancer.
It is globally recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) that infants begin breastfeeding within the 1-hour after birth (also known as early initiation), fed only breastmilk for the first 6 months of life without water, tea and any other liquids or food (also known as exclusive breastfeeding), and thereafter, and continue breastfeeding with appropriate complementary foods up to two years of age or beyond (also known as continued breastfeeding).
From 2008 to 2014, the number of infants under six months who were only fed breast milk dropped from 63% to 52% in Ghana, putting infants and mothers at risk of poor health outcomes.2 Concerned about low rates of exclusively breastfeeding, the University of Ghana and a committee of national nutrition, health and breastfeeding experts formed to evaluate this using the Becoming Breastfeeding Friendly (BBF) guide.
After Ghana applied the BBF, it was clear there was a need to improve communication to support the health of babies and mothers in Ghana. It was decided the most effective way to do this was through a social media campaign.
1 Rollins NC, Bhandari N, Hajeebhoy N, Horton S, Lutter CK, Martines JC, Piwoz EG, Richter LM, Victora CG. Why invest, and what it will take to improve breastfeeding practices?. The Lancet. 2016 Jan 30;387(10017):491-504.
2 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey 2014. USAID. Available https://dhsprogram.com/publications/publication-fr307-dhs-final-reports.cfm
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about the campaign and breastfeeding will continuously be updated. We will answer questions about supporting, protecting and promoting breastfeeding for expecting and breastfeeding mothers, fathers, family members, employers, health providers, and the general public.
Send us your questions to: breastfeed4gh@ug.edu.gh
Please know that we will not provide one-on-one medical advice and encourage you to contact a qualified health care provider if you are experiencing difficulties or need help with breastfeeding.
While we provide some educational materials for expecting mothers, mothers currently breastfeeding, family members, and employers under Resources, we encourage mothers to reach out to qualified health care providers with questions about breastfeeding.
Breastfeed4Ghana encourages mothers to reach out to qualified health care providers if you have questions or want to learn more about breastfeeding.