10 steps to successful breastfeeding -World Health Organization

Infographics: Baby-friendly hospitals initiative

Hospital policies

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Staff competency

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Antenatal care

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Care right after birth

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Support mothers with breastfeeding

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Supplementing

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Rooming-in

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Responsive feeding

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Bottles, teats and pacifiers

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Discharge

WHO and UNICEF issued -new ten-step guidance to increase support for breastfeeding in health facilities that provide maternity and newborn services. Breastfeeding all babies for the first 2 years would save the lives of more than 820 000 children under age 5 annually

Breastfeeding is vital to a child’s lifelong health, and reduces costs for health facilities, families, and governments. Breastfeeding within the first hour of birth protects newborn babies from infections and saves lives. Infants are at greater risk of death due to diarrhea and other infections when they are only partially breastfed or not breastfed at all. Breastfeeding also improves IQ, school readiness and attendance, and is associated with higher income in adult life. It also reduces the risk of breast cancer in the mother.

"Breastfeeding saves lives. Its benefits help keep babies healthy in their first days and last will into adulthood," says UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta H. Fore. "But breastfeeding requires support, encouragement and guidance. With these basic steps, implemented properly, we can significantly improve breastfeeding rates around the world and give children the best possible start in life."

WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says that in many hospitals and communities around the world, whether a child can be breastfed or not can make the difference between life and death, and whether a child will develop to reach his or her full potential.

"Hospitals are not there just to cure the ill. They are there to promote life and ensure people can thrive and live their lives to their full potential," says Dr Tedros. "As part of every country’s drive to achieve universal health coverage, there is no better or more crucial place to start than by ensuring the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding are the standard for care of mothers and their babies."

The new guidance describes practical steps countries should take to protect, promote and support breastfeeding in facilities providing maternity and newborn services. They provide the immediate health system platform to help mothers initiate breastfeeding within the first hour and breastfeed exclusively for six months.

It describes how hospitals should have a written breastfeeding policy in place, staff competencies, and antenatal and post-birth care, including breastfeeding support for mothers. It also recommends limited use of breastmilk substitutes, rooming-in, responsive feeding, educating parents on the use of bottles and pacifiers, and support when mothers and babies are discharged from hospital.

Note to editors

The Ten Steps are based on the WHO guidelines, issued in November 2017, titled Protecting, promoting and supporting breastfeeding in facilities providing maternity and newborn services.

Early initiation of breastfeeding, within one hour of birth, protects the newborn from acquiring infections and reduces newborn mortality. Starting breastfeeding early increases the chances of a successful continuation of breastfeeding. Exclusive breastfeeding for six months has many benefits for the infant and mother. Chief among these is protection against gastrointestinal infections and malnutrition, which are observed not only in developing but also industrialized countries.

Breast-milk is also an important source of energy and nutrients in children aged 6–23 months. It can provide half or more of a child’s energy needs between 6-12 months, and one-third of energy needs between 12-24 months. Breast-milk is also a critical source of energy and nutrients during illness, and reduces mortality among children who are malnourished.

Children and adolescents who were breastfed as babies are less likely to be overweight or obese.

For more information, please contact:

WHO

Paul Garwood
WHO Department of Communications
Mobile: +41 79 603 7294
Email: garwoodp@who.int

Nyka Alexander (Geneva)
WHO Department of Communications
Mobile: +41 79 634 0295
Email: alexandern@who.int

UNICEF

Sabrina Sidhu
New York
Mobile: +1 917 476 1537
Email: ssidhu@unicef.org

Marixie Mercado
Geneva
Mobile: +41 79 559 7172
Email: mmercado@unicef.org

11 APRIL 2018 | GENEVA - News Release

The Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding underpin the Baby-friendly Hospital Initiative, which both organizations launched in 1991. The practical guidance encourages new mothers to breastfeed and informs health workers how best to support breastfeeding.

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2018/promote-breastfeeding-globally/en/

Universal Health Coverage: everyone, everywhere - WHO

Key messages for World Health Day 2018 April 7 -WHO

World Health Day messages

• Universal health coverage is about ensuring all people can get quality health services, where and when they need them, without suffering financial hardship.
• No one should have to choose between good health and other life necessities.
• UHC is key to people’s and nations’ health and well-being.
• UHC is feasible. Some countries have made great progress. Their challenge is to maintain coverage to meet people’s expectations.
• All countries will approach UHC in different ways: there is no one size fits all. But every country can do something to advance UHC.
• Making health services truly universal requires a shift from designing health systems around diseases and institutions towards health services designed around and for people.
• Everyone can play a part in the path to UHC, by taking part in a UHC conversation.

Too many people are currently missing out on health coverage

“Universal” in UHC means “for all”, without discrimination, leaving no one behind. Everyone everywhere has a right to benefit from health services they need without falling into poverty when using them.

Here are some facts and figures about the state of UHC today:

• At least half of the world’s people is currently unable to obtain essential health services.
• Almost 100 million people are being pushed into extreme poverty, forced to survive on just $1.90 or less a day, because they have to pay for health services out of their own pockets.
• Over 800 million people (almost 12 percent of the world’s population) spend at least 10 percent of their household budgets on health expenses for themselves, a sick child or other family member. They incur so-called “catastrophic expenditures”.
• Incurring catastrophic expenses for health care is a global problem. In richer countries in Europe, Latin America and parts of Asia, which have achieved high levels of access to health services, increasing numbers of people are spending at least 10 percent of their household budgets on out-of-pocket health expenses.

What UHC is

• UHC means that all people and communities receive the health services they need without suffering financial hardship.
• UHC enables everyone to access the services that address the most important causes of disease and death and ensures that the quality of those services is good enough to improve the health of the people who receive them.

What UHC is not

• UHC does not mean free coverage for all possible health interventions, regardless of the cost, as no country can provide all services free of charge on a sustainable basis.
• UHC is not only about ensuring a minimum package of health services, but also about ensuring a progressive expansion of coverage of health services and financial protection as more resources become available.
• UHC is not only about medical treatment for individuals, but also includes services for whole populations such as public health campaigns – for example adding fluoride to water or controlling the breeding grounds of mosquitoes that carry viruses that can cause disease.
• UHC is not just about health care and financing the health system of a country. It encompasses all components of the health system: systems and healthcare providers that deliver health services to people, health facilities and communications networks, health technologies, information systems, quality assurance mechanisms and governance and legislation

http://www.who.int/campaigns/world-health-day/2018/key-messages/en/

WHO: World Health Day - 7 April 2018 Celebrate World Health Day with special stamps

Today is the first day of issue of stamps to commemorate
World Health Day and the seventieth anniversary of WHO.

The stamps issued by the United Nations Postal Administration
(UNPA) are messengers of peace. Human rights,
 the environment, endangered species and peace
 are all subjects of universal concern to the peoples 
of the world. And so is universal health coverage, 
this year’s World Health Day theme.