Determinants of breastfeeding indicators among children less than 24 months of age in Tanzania: a secondary analysis of the 2010 Tanzania Demographic and Health Survey

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Abstract

Objective

To examine the prevalence of key WHO breastfeeding indicators and identify determinants of suboptimal breastfeeding practices among children aged less than 24 months in Tanzania.

Design, setting and participants

Secondary analyses of cross-sectional data from the 2010 Tanzania Demographic and Health Survey. The survey used a stratified two-stage cluster sample of 10 312 households from eight geographical zones of Tanzania. The sample consisted of 3112 children aged 0–23 months.

Main outcome measures

Outcome measures were factors significantly associated with delayed initiation of breastfeeding, non-exclusive breastfeeding and predominant breastfeeding in the first 6 months.

Results

Breastfeeding was initiated within the first hour of birth in 46.1% of mothers. In infants aged less than 6 months, the prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding was 49.9% but only 22.9% were exclusively breastfed at 4–5 months. Seventeen per cent of infants, less than 6 months of age, were ‘predominantly breastfed’. At 12–15 months, 94.0% of infants were still breastfed but the proportion decreased to 51.1% at 20–23 months of age. Multivariate analysis revealed that the risk of delayed initiation of breastfeeding within 1 h after birth was significantly higher among young mothers aged <24 years, uneducated and employed mothers from rural areas who delivered by caesarean section and those who delivered at home and were assisted by traditional birth attendants or relatives. The risk factors associated with non-exclusive breastfeeding, during the first 6 months, were lack of professional assistance at birth and residence in urban areas. The risk of predominant breastfeeding was significantly higher among infants from the Zanzibar geographical zone.

Conclusions

Early initiation of breastfeeding and exclusive breastfeeding indicators were unsatisfactory and are below the national targets for Tanzania. To improve breastfeeding practices, national level programmes will be required, but with a focus on the target groups with suboptimal breastfeeding practices.

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Most cited references 25

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Delayed breastfeeding initiation increases risk of neonatal mortality.

Karen M. Edmond, Charles Zandoh, Maria A. Quigley … (2006)

Breastfeeding promotion is a key child survival strategy. Although there is an extensive scientific basis for its impact on postneonatal mortality, evidence is sparse for its impact on neonatal mortality. We sought to assess the contribution of the timing of initiation of breastfeeding to any impact. This study took advantage of the 4-weekly surveillance system from a large ongoing maternal vitamin A supplementation trial in rural Ghana involving all women of childbearing age and their infants. It was designed to evaluate whether timing of initiation of breastfeeding and type (exclusive, predominant, or partial) are associated with risk of neonatal mortality. The analysis is based on 10,947 breastfed singleton infants born between July 2003 and June 2004 who survived to day 2 and whose mothers were visited in the neonatal period. Breastfeeding was initiated within the first day of birth in 71% of infants and by the end of day 3 in all but 1.3% of them; 70% were exclusively breastfed during the neonatal period. The risk of neonatal death was fourfold higher in children given milk-based fluids or solids in addition to breast milk. There was a marked dose response of increasing risk of neonatal mortality with increasing delay in initiation of breastfeeding from 1 hour to day 7; overall late initiation (after day 1) was associated with a 2.4-fold increase in risk. The size of this effect was similar when the model was refitted excluding infants at high risk of death (unwell on the day of birth, congenital abnormalities, premature, unwell at the time of interview) or when deaths during the first week (days 2-7) were excluded. Promotion of early initiation of breastfeeding has the potential to make a major contribution to the achievement of the child survival millennium development goal; 16% of neonatal deaths could be saved if all infants were breastfed from day 1 and 22% if breastfeeding started within the first hour. Breastfeeding-promotion programs should emphasize early initiation as well as exclusive breastfeeding. This has particular relevance for sub-Saharan Africa, where neonatal and infant mortality rates are high but most women already exclusively or predominantly breastfeed their infants.

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Effect of breastfeeding on infant and child mortality due to infectious diseases in less developed countries: a pooled analysis. WHO Collaborative Study Team on the Role of Breastfeeding on the Prevention of Infant Mortality.

(2000)

The debate on breastfeeding in areas of high HIV prevalence has led to the development of simulation models that attempt to assess the risks and benefits associated with breastfeeding. An essential element of these simulations is the extent to which breastfeeding protects against infant and child mortality; however, few studies are available on this topic. We did a pooled analysis of studies that assessed the effect of not breastfeeding on the risk of death due to infectious diseases. Studies were identified through consultations with experts in international health, and from a MEDLINE search for 1980-98. Using meta-analytical techniques, we assessed the protective effect of breastfeeding according to the age and sex of the infant, the cause of death, and the educational status of the mother. We identified eight studies, data from six of which were available (from Brazil, The Gambia, Ghana, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Senegal). These studies provided information on 1223 deaths of children under two years of age. In the African studies, virtually all babies were breastfed well into the second year of life, making it impossible to include them in the analyses of infant mortality. On the basis of the other three studies, protection provided by breastmilk declined steadily with age during infancy (pooled odds ratios: 5.8 [95% CI 3.4-9.8] for infants <2 months of age, 4.1 [2.7-6.4] for 2-3-month-olds, 2.6 [1.6-3.9] for 4-5-month-olds, 1.8 [1.2-2.8] for 6-8-month-olds, and 1.4 [0.8-2.6] for 9-11-month-olds). In the first 6 months of life, protection against diarrhoea was substantially greater (odds ratio 6.1 [4.1-9.0]) than against deaths due to acute respiratory infections (2.4 [1.6-3.5]). However, for infants aged 6-11 months, similar levels of protection were observed (1.9 [1.2-3.1] and 2.5 [1.4-4.6], respectively). For second-year deaths, the pooled odds ratios from five studies ranged between 1.6 and 2.1. Protection was highest when maternal education was low. These results may help shape policy decisions about feeding choices in the face of the HIV epidemic. Of particular relevance is the need to account for declining levels of protection with age in infancy, the continued protection afforded during the second year of life, and the question of the safety of breastmilk substitutes in families of low socioeconomic status.

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Determinants of exclusive breastfeeding in Nigeria

Kingsley E Agho, Michael Dibley, Justice Odiase … (2011)

Background Exclusive breast feeding (EBF) has important protective effects on the survival of infants and decreases risk for many early-life diseases. The purpose of this study was to assess the factors associated with EBF in Nigeria. Methods Data on 658 children less than 6 months of age were obtained from the Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) 2003. The 2003 NDHS was a multi-stage cluster sample survey of 7864 households. EBF rates were examined against a set of individual, household and community level variables using a backward stepwise multilevel logistic regression method. Results The average EBF rate among infants younger than 6 months of age was 16.4% (95%CI: 12.6%-21.1%) but was only 7.1% in infants in their fifth month of age. After adjusting for potential confounders, multivariate analyses revealed that the odds of EBF were higher in rich (Adjusted Odds Ratios (AOR) = 1.15, CI = 0.28-6.69) and middle level (AOR = 2.45, CI = 1.06-5.68) households than poor households. Increasing infant age was associated with significantly less EBF (AOR = 0.65, 95%CI: 0.51-0.82). Mothers who had four or more antenatal visits were significantly more likely to engage in EBF (AOR = 2.70, 95%CI = 1.04-7.01). Female infants were more likely to be exclusively breastfed than male infants (AOR = 2.13, 95%CI = 1.03-4.39). Mothers who lived in the North Central geopolitical region were significantly more likely to exclusively breastfeed their babies than those mothers who lived in other geopolitical regions. Conclusions The EBF rate in Nigeria is low and falls well short of the expected levels needed to achieve a substantial reduction in child mortality. Antenatal care was strongly associated with an increased rate of EBF. Appropriate infant feeding practises are needed if Nigeria is to reach the child survival Millennium Development Goal of reducing infant mortality from about 100 deaths per 1000 live births to a target of 35 deaths per 1000 live births by the year 2015.

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Author and article information

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): BMJ Open

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): BMJ Open

Journal ID (hwp): bmjopen

Journal ID (publisher-id): bmjopen

Title: BMJ Open

Publisher: BMJ Publishing Group (BMA House, Tavistock Square, London, WC1H 9JR )

ISSN (Electronic): 2044-6055

Publication date Collection: 2013

Publication date (Electronic): 7 January 2013

Volume: 3

Issue: 1

Electronic Location Identifier: e001529

Affiliations

[1 ]School of Health Sciences, University of Newcastle , Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia

[2 ]School of Medicine, University of Western Sydney , Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia

[3 ]Sydney School of Public Health, Sydney Medical School, The University of Sydney , Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia

Author notes

[Correspondence to ] Rose Victor; rose.victor@ 123456uon.edu.au ; msakirose@ 123456yahoo.com

Article

Publisher ID: bmjopen-2012-001529

DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2012-001529

PMC ID: 3549262

PubMed ID: 23299109

SO-VID: 248f6c55-fc05-4724-af6e-19ff5b72a7ec

License:

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial License, which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non commercial and is otherwise in compliance with the license. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ and http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/legalcode

History

Date received : 23 May 2012

Date revision received : 6 October 2012

Date accepted : 1 November 2012

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Determinants of breastfeeding indicators among children less than 24 months of age in Tanzania: a secondary analysis of the 2010 Tanzania Demographic and Health Survey

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Abstract

Objective

Design, setting and participants

Main outcome measures

Results

Conclusions

Related collections

iDR24 Conference - Poster Abstracts

Most cited references 25

Delayed breastfeeding initiation increases risk of neonatal mortality.

Effect of breastfeeding on infant and child mortality due to infectious diseases in less developed countries: a pooled analysis. WHO Collaborative Study Team on the Role of Breastfeeding on the Prevention of Infant Mortality.

Determinants of exclusive breastfeeding in Nigeria

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Cited by 43

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