An awareness raising campaign aimed at promoting breastfeeding has been rolled out in 34 health centers in Siem Reap and Battambang provinces to improve children's well-being, reduce childhood infections and child deaths.

The Baby-Friendly Health Center (BFHC) project aims to promote breastfeeding by raising awareness to mothers through lactation counselors. During the three-year project, which runs from 2023 to 2026, more than 54,096 pregnant women, 15,285 newborns, and 134 health center staff will benefit.

The 34 health centers will also deliver ‘Baby Friendly Services’ due to the engagement with the Provincial Health Department.

The BFHC project is expanding in the provinces of Siem Reap and Preah Vihear, thanks to World Vision International, in close coordination with the Ministry of Health (MoH), the National Nutrition Program (NNP), and the National Maternal Child Health Centre (NMCHC).

Between 2022 and 2023, eight health centers in Siem Reap were successfully implemented through the financial support of Else Kröner-Fresenius-Stiftung (EKFS) from World Vision Germany and with the approval from MoH.

Furthermore, this project aims to mobilize and train lactation counselors at the community level, who can provide guidance to mothers and other family members on breastfeeding newborns, infants, and early children.

Kim Rattana, Director of the National Maternal Child Health Centre (NMCHC), said in order to improve the breastfeeding rates in the country the MoH collaborated with World Vision.

Meanwhile, raising more awareness of the benefits of breastfeeding among mothers are in need as the number of breastfeeding parents in Cambodia is still below 50 percent.

“It is essential to increase knowledge among pregnant women and postpartum mothers on the benefits of breastfeeding, only half of the mothers in Cambodia exclusively breastfeed their children within the first six months of birth,” he emphasized.

He added that breastfeeding is the ideal food for newborns and infants, and it helps to protect against many common childhood illnesses. Breastfed children excel in intelligence tests when they grow up.

Moreover, they are less prone to diabetes and other non-communicable diseases.

He believes that with the health center staff’s support, pregnant women , postpartum mothers, especially women with their first child will be able to gain more insights about breastfeeding both during pregnancy and post-delivery.

“Health center staff also need to support breastfeeding in terms of attachment and positioning of the baby and encourage women to continue breastfeed their children until two-years-old to improve the well-being of children,” the Director of the National Maternal Child Health Centre (NMCHC) said.

Even though 99 percent of births were delivered by a skilled provider, of those, only 68 percent were by a nurse or midwife, two percent by an auxiliary midwife, and 29 percent by a doctor.

Only 54 percent of the newborns were fed with breast milk within one hour of birth, according to Cambodia Demographic and Health Survey 2021-2022.

Cambodia has some of the highest rates of malnutrition among children aged under five in the region; 10 percent of these youngsters are underweight for their height and 22 percent are too short for their age.

The main causes of undernutrition in children include inadequate food, poor water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), poverty, and mother's lack of education.

Koung Lo, Director of Preah Vihear Provincial Health Department, said the BFHC initiative with health center staff will assist mothers to gain knowledge and skills on how to breastfeed properly.

Based on the latest Cambodia Demographic Health Survey, Preah Vihear and Siem Reap provinces have high percentages of health facility-based delivery at 94.8 percent and 97.4 percent.

However, early initiation of breastfeeding has remained low at 42.4 percent and 56.2 percent, respectively.

Yim Song An, Chief of the Health Center SAANG Operational Health District, welcomed the initiative and anticipates it will help to improve service delivery in the health center and contribute to increased breastfeeding, despite the gradual decline in rates of malnutrition among children.

Grana Pu Selvi, Technical Lead for Integrated Nutrition Programme at WVI in Cambodia, said that health facilities play a crucial role in encouraging and supporting young mothers to breastfeed their newborn children successfully.

In June 2022, World Vision prepared draft operational guidelines to implement BFHC based on World Health Organisation guidance and the national Baby-Friendly Health Initiative BFHI guidelines, launched by MoH in September 2022.

In November 2022, WVI-C initiated a one year pilot programme in eight health centers in Siem Reap. Later this year, with approval from the Ministry of Health, an additional 26 health centers will be promoted as BFHC.

Through the promotion of early initiation of breastfeeding, exclusive breastfeeding, and continued breastfeeding, the organizations expect to improve children's well-being and reduce childhood infections and child deaths.