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Sociodemographic Factors Affecting the Practices of Exclusive Breastfeeding Among Mothers Attending Brikama District Hospital, West Coast Region, The Gambia

Received: 8 June 2023     Accepted: 20 July 2023     Published: 25 September 2023
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Abstract

World Health Assembly resolution emphasized on countries to ensure that maternal and child nutrition especially the six global targets are met by 2025, and it was all clamored for more efforts to be put on increasing the rate of exclusive breastfeeding by 50%. To support a child's best growth and development, exclusive breastfeeding should be observed for the first six months after birth followed by supplemental feeding for two years or longer. This study investigates the sociodemographic factors influencing the practice of exclusive breastfeeding among mothers with children who are two years or less attending antenatal care in Brikama Health Center, The Gambia. Structured and pretested interviews and questionnaires were used to obtain data from study participants respectively. Face-to-face interviews with mothers on their clinic days were used to collect data during the one-month study period and descriptive statistics were carried out using SPSS for Windows version 20.0. A total of 384 women participated in this study, out of which, the majority, 240 (62.5%) of participants had exclusively breastfed their babies. Above half 168 (44%) of the mothers had breastfed their babies on demand, majority of them 49 (21%) reported that they had given their babies lactating milk or bformulaulae food before the sixth month. The results show a significant relationship between Type of family (p=0.002), Religion (p=0.035), Ethnicity (p=0.005), Type of deliveries (p=0.023), and Place of birth (p=0.001) and practice of exclusive breastfeeding (EBF). Concerning the frequency of EBF, Educational status and Occupation showed a significant relationship (p=0.032 and 0.051) respectively. Type of family, religion, ethnicity, type of delivery, place of birth, educational status, mother's occupation, and child's sex were the socio-demographic characteristics that influenced exclusive breastfeeding in this study. In planning exclusive breastfeeding intervention programs, these factors need to be considered.

Published in Journal of Family Medicine and Health Care (Volume 9, Issue 3)
DOI 10.11648/j.jfmhc.20230903.11
Page(s) 41-48
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Exclusive Breastfeeding, Brikama, Practice, Socio-Demographic, Mothers

References
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    Evelyn Anuli Uyamadu, Pierre Anthony Mendy, Edrisa Jawo, Edward Mendy, Matty Kah, et al. (2023). Sociodemographic Factors Affecting the Practices of Exclusive Breastfeeding Among Mothers Attending Brikama District Hospital, West Coast Region, The Gambia. Journal of Family Medicine and Health Care, 9(3), 41-48. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jfmhc.20230903.11

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    Evelyn Anuli Uyamadu; Pierre Anthony Mendy; Edrisa Jawo; Edward Mendy; Matty Kah, et al. Sociodemographic Factors Affecting the Practices of Exclusive Breastfeeding Among Mothers Attending Brikama District Hospital, West Coast Region, The Gambia. J. Fam. Med. Health Care 2023, 9(3), 41-48. doi: 10.11648/j.jfmhc.20230903.11

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    AMA Style

    Evelyn Anuli Uyamadu, Pierre Anthony Mendy, Edrisa Jawo, Edward Mendy, Matty Kah, et al. Sociodemographic Factors Affecting the Practices of Exclusive Breastfeeding Among Mothers Attending Brikama District Hospital, West Coast Region, The Gambia. J Fam Med Health Care. 2023;9(3):41-48. doi: 10.11648/j.jfmhc.20230903.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.jfmhc.20230903.11,
      author = {Evelyn Anuli Uyamadu and Pierre Anthony Mendy and Edrisa Jawo and Edward Mendy and Matty Kah and Ismaila Mbenga and Alpha Kargbo},
      title = {Sociodemographic Factors Affecting the Practices of Exclusive Breastfeeding Among Mothers Attending Brikama District Hospital, West Coast Region, The Gambia},
      journal = {Journal of Family Medicine and Health Care},
      volume = {9},
      number = {3},
      pages = {41-48},
      doi = {10.11648/j.jfmhc.20230903.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jfmhc.20230903.11},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.jfmhc.20230903.11},
      abstract = {World Health Assembly resolution emphasized on countries to ensure that maternal and child nutrition especially the six global targets are met by 2025, and it was all clamored for more efforts to be put on increasing the rate of exclusive breastfeeding by 50%. To support a child's best growth and development, exclusive breastfeeding should be observed for the first six months after birth followed by supplemental feeding for two years or longer. This study investigates the sociodemographic factors influencing the practice of exclusive breastfeeding among mothers with children who are two years or less attending antenatal care in Brikama Health Center, The Gambia. Structured and pretested interviews and questionnaires were used to obtain data from study participants respectively. Face-to-face interviews with mothers on their clinic days were used to collect data during the one-month study period and descriptive statistics were carried out using SPSS for Windows version 20.0. A total of 384 women participated in this study, out of which, the majority, 240 (62.5%) of participants had exclusively breastfed their babies. Above half 168 (44%) of the mothers had breastfed their babies on demand, majority of them 49 (21%) reported that they had given their babies lactating milk or bformulaulae food before the sixth month. The results show a significant relationship between Type of family (p=0.002), Religion (p=0.035), Ethnicity (p=0.005), Type of deliveries (p=0.023), and Place of birth (p=0.001) and practice of exclusive breastfeeding (EBF). Concerning the frequency of EBF, Educational status and Occupation showed a significant relationship (p=0.032 and 0.051) respectively. Type of family, religion, ethnicity, type of delivery, place of birth, educational status, mother's occupation, and child's sex were the socio-demographic characteristics that influenced exclusive breastfeeding in this study. In planning exclusive breastfeeding intervention programs, these factors need to be considered.},
     year = {2023}
    }
    

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    AU  - Evelyn Anuli Uyamadu
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    AB  - World Health Assembly resolution emphasized on countries to ensure that maternal and child nutrition especially the six global targets are met by 2025, and it was all clamored for more efforts to be put on increasing the rate of exclusive breastfeeding by 50%. To support a child's best growth and development, exclusive breastfeeding should be observed for the first six months after birth followed by supplemental feeding for two years or longer. This study investigates the sociodemographic factors influencing the practice of exclusive breastfeeding among mothers with children who are two years or less attending antenatal care in Brikama Health Center, The Gambia. Structured and pretested interviews and questionnaires were used to obtain data from study participants respectively. Face-to-face interviews with mothers on their clinic days were used to collect data during the one-month study period and descriptive statistics were carried out using SPSS for Windows version 20.0. A total of 384 women participated in this study, out of which, the majority, 240 (62.5%) of participants had exclusively breastfed their babies. Above half 168 (44%) of the mothers had breastfed their babies on demand, majority of them 49 (21%) reported that they had given their babies lactating milk or bformulaulae food before the sixth month. The results show a significant relationship between Type of family (p=0.002), Religion (p=0.035), Ethnicity (p=0.005), Type of deliveries (p=0.023), and Place of birth (p=0.001) and practice of exclusive breastfeeding (EBF). Concerning the frequency of EBF, Educational status and Occupation showed a significant relationship (p=0.032 and 0.051) respectively. Type of family, religion, ethnicity, type of delivery, place of birth, educational status, mother's occupation, and child's sex were the socio-demographic characteristics that influenced exclusive breastfeeding in this study. In planning exclusive breastfeeding intervention programs, these factors need to be considered.
    VL  - 9
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Author Information
  • Department of Public and Environmental Health, The University of the Gambia, Brikama, Banjul, Gambia

  • Department of Physical and Natural Sciences, School of Arts and Sciences, the University of the Gambia, Brikama, Banjul, Gambia

  • Directorate of Research and Consultancy, The University of the Gambia, Banjul, Gambia

  • WASCAL-Graduate Research Program in Climate Change and Disaster Risk Management, Universite de Lome, Lome, Togo

  • School of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, The University of the Gambia, Brikama, Banjul, Gambia

  • Department of Physical and Natural Sciences, School of Arts and Sciences, the University of the Gambia, Brikama, Banjul, Gambia

  • Department of Physical and Natural Sciences, School of Arts and Sciences, the University of the Gambia, Brikama, Banjul, Gambia

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