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Impact of CARE‐India's Integrated Nutrition and Health Program (INHP‐II) on breastfeeding practices in Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh states
Author(s) -
Singh V,
Chaudhery DN,
Srivastava VK,
Li Y,
Ahmed S,
Caulfield LE,
Dreyfuss ML
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.21.5.a98-c
Subject(s) - breastfeeding , medicine , uttar pradesh , demography , environmental health , pediatrics , socioeconomics , sociology
Delayed initiation of breastfeeding (BF) and early introduction of complementary foods (CF) to breastfed infants increase the risk of infection and poor growth. CARE's INHP‐II was designed to improve infant feeding advice given to mothers. The study objective was to assess INHP‐II impact on BF practices among mothers of children ages 0–5 months. Baseline and endline surveys were conducted in one intervention (I) and comparison (C) district each of Andhra Pradesh (AP) and Uttar Pradesh (UP) states in early 2004 and 2006. In AP, there were 614 (AP‐I) and 591 (AP‐C) mothers surveyed at baseline and 545 (AP‐I) and 610 (AP‐C) at endline. In UP, there were 789 (UP‐I) and 711 (UP‐C) mothers at baseline and 747 (UP‐I) and 670 (UP‐C) at endline. Early initiation (¡Ü1 hour) of BF increased significantly in the intervention (AP‐I: 22 to 36%; UP‐I: 5 to 59%) compared to the comparison districts of both states, but improvement was greater in UP (relative increase: UP‐46%, AP‐12%). Provision of pre‐lacteal feeds decreased modestly in AP‐I (12%) and dramatically in UP‐I (47%). Exclusive BF at baseline was higher in AP (77–87%) than UP (63%) districts, but decreased slightly in AP compared to a significant relative increase in UP (7.1%, p<0.05). Early introduction of CF decreased significantly in the intervention relative to the comparison districts both states (AP: −8%, UP: −6%, p<0.05). The INHP‐II program improved BF initiation practices, particularly in UP, and reduced early introduction of CF in both states, suggesting that mothers can improve infant feeding practices with appropriate counseling. Funded by the United States Agency for International Development