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Most ministries of health have selected a number of influential hospitals to pioneer the baby-friendly idea. So far, over 130 countries have designated almost 9000 such `target hospitals'. As of February 1995, over 3000 have earned the baby-friendly title.
In the last 12 months, several nations have lowered the number of target hospitals after realizing that sights had been set unrealistically high. Indonesia, for example, has reduced its number of target hospitals from 4000 to 217 while increasing the number of hospitals declared baby-friendly from 30 to 91. Similarly, the Philippines has lowered its target figure from 1600 to just over 600 while increasing those hospitals declared baby-friendly from 138 to 225. Figures for Viet Nam have also changed following a government decision to target only national and provincial hospitals in the first phase.
In some cases, a fall in the number of baby-friendly hospitals is a sign of commitment to the idea: Guatemala, for example, has reinspected all of its baby-friendly hospitals after one year and decided that 14 of them must bring the training of new staff up to standard in order to retain the title.
Hospital roll-call
The following developing countries are listed in alphabetical order as comparisons are not possible between countries which, apart from differences in size, are operating at different levels of ambition.
Declared % of
Target baby- target
hospitals friendly 1994
Sub-Saharan Africa
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Benin 40 12 30
Botswana 10 4 40
Burkina Faso 21 2 10
Burundi 32 1 3
Congo 12 6 50
Côte d'Ivoire 86 53 62
Gabon 12 2 17
Guinea 35 1 3
Kenya 300 232 77
Lesotho 18 4 22
Liberia 7 2 29
Mali 50 1 2
Namibia 20 17 85
Nigeria 200 17 9
Rwanda 2 2 100
Sao Tome/Principe 2 1 50
Sierra Leone 10 1 10
South Africa - 1 -
Swaziland 6 4 67
Tanzania 174 5 3
Uganda 20 11 55
Zambia 40 5 13
Zimbabwe 25 14 56
Middle East & North Africa
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Algeria 5 2 40
Bahrain 6 6 100
Djibouti 8 4 50
Egypt 106 7 7
Iran 315 68 22
Kuwait 2 2 100
Lebanon 15 2 13
Oman 51 51 100
Saudi Arabia 172 2 1
Syria 30 11 37
Tunisia 151 118 78
Turkey 54 19 35
U. Arab Emirates 6 4 67
South Asia
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Bangladesh 160 48 30
Bhutan 6 1 17
India 1000 104 10
Pakistan 100 7 7
Sri Lanka 214 37 17
East Asia & Pacific
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China 1000 947 95
Fiji 5 1 20
Indonesia 217 91 42
Korea, Dem. 12 1 8
Korea, Rep. 75 7 9
Malaysia 84 14 17
Mongolia 27 7 26
Myanmar 93 47 51
Philippines 612 225 37
Thailand 791 440 56
Viet Nam 58 1 2
Latin America & Caribbean
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Argentina 30 4 13
Bolivia 14 9 64
Brazil 54 13 24
Chile 40 11 28
Colombia 90 12 13
Costa Rica 26 1 4
Cuba 63 23 37
Dominican Rep. 25 2 8
Ecuador 104 65 63
El Salvador 28 14 50
Guatemala 49 12 24
Honduras 14 3 21
Mexico 750 224 30
Panama 4 1 25
Paraguay 12 2 17
Peru 70 27 39
Saint Vincent/
Grenadines 1 1 100
Venezuela 14 1 7
Source: UNICEF, unpublished data, March 1995.
The front runners
Approximately 90% of the in-crease in baby-friendly hospitals over the last 12 months is accounted for by the following 15 countries:
Number of baby-friendly hospitals
1993 1994 Rise
---------------------------------
China 207 947 740
Thailand 45 440 395
Kenya 22 232 210
Mexico 55 224 169
Tunisia 13 118 105
Philippines 138 225 87
India 33 104 71
Ecuador 3 65 62
Indonesia 30 91 61
Iran 11 68 57
Bangladesh 3 48 45
Myanmar 4 47 43
Oman 23 51 28
Sweden 28 50 22
Cuba 3 23 20