Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative in Romania
In Brief
The Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) was launched in 1991 as an effort by UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO) to ensure that all maternities, whether free standing or in a hospital, become centres for breastfeeding support. In 1996, the BFHI in Romania aimed for results beyond the initial objective, targeting the improvement of the nutritional and health status of infants and mothers, and a drop in child abandonment in maternity hospitals. The Baby-friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) intensified in 2008, with 35 hospitals covering over 30% of births included in a national programme in an effort to boost the 16% exclusive breastfeeding rate. Increasing interest has been shown by maternity hospitals nationwide to become part of the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative; Neamţ county decided to enroll all of its maternities, thereby wishing to become the first Baby Friendly county, out of 41 counties.
UNICEF is now supporting 30 maternity hospitals to become Baby-Friendly Hospitals (BFH) and its interventions assist the Government to improvie health and nutrition policies, strategies, standards and services. BFHI is currently part of the National Programme 3 of the Ministry of Public Health. With UNICEF input, the Committee on Breastfeeding developed the Strategy and Plan of Action for Breastfeeding Promotion in Romania and the Evaluation and Certification Methodology and Tools for maternity hospitals joining BFHI.
Main results
One of the most important results is that mothers have increased awareness and knowledge about breastfeeding and healthy nutrition practices. Moreover, breastfeeding and the stimulation of bonding between mothers and their babies has contributed to the decrease in child abandonment. Efforts have led to increased quality of health care and nutrition for newborns, strengthened the capacity of decision-makers for nutrition and public health policies, enhanced the capacity of professionals to monitor, evaluate and improve the quality of response, and capitalised on experiences for mother and child care service reform.
