Hospitals’ adherence to WHO baby friendly guidelines stressed

The Ministry of Health has launched a nationwide initiative to ensure that hospitals comply with World Health Organisation’s (WHO) baby friendly hospital guidelines.

The Ministry hopes to improve the awareness about the proper procedures to follow by hospital staff and the new mothers after a child is born, it is learnt.

The initiative will focus on educating mothers as well as hospital staff on how to care for the baby and what actions must be avoided, Ministry of Health, Head of Nutrition at the Public Health Directorate Dr Buthayna Yusuf told Tribune. “First of all Bahrain already has an excellent resolution regarding this but to make it easier for hospitals to implement it we are citing the WHO ten steps for baby friendly hospitals as a resource. The WHO has published ten steps to take to ensure baby friendly hospitals.

“The WHO steps have important guidelines mainly aimed at keeping the baby healthy. It points out that the baby should be breastfed as soon as possible and advises mothers on the risk of feeding bottles, teats and pacifiers and so on,” she said.

She confirmed that certifying hospitals based on this are also planned for the future. “Yes, we wish to certify baby-friendly hospitals. When we evaluate the hospital or the medical center, we will evaluate based on these ten steps. We will check whether each and every hospital is following these ten steps.