People's initiative to counteract misinformation and marketing practices: the Pembo, Philippines, breastfeeding experience, 2006.
The Philippines is among 42 countries accounting for 90% of under 5-year-old deaths. Only 16% of 4 to 5 month old Filipinos exclusively breastfeed. In 2006, almost $100 million was spent advertising formula in the Philippines. To counter widespread misinformation and improve breastfeeding a peer counseling intervention was developed to target mothers with infants less than 2 months of age who were not exclusively breastfeeding or had difficulty breastfeeding. Participants received 3 peer counseling visits. At baseline and 3 weeks later, 24-hour food recalls for infants were collected. The number of exclusively formula-fed infants decreased seven-fold (P < .001). Mixed-fed infants decreased 37% (P < .001). Overall, of the 148 nonexclusively breastfeeding infants, 69.5% had changed feeding methods after 3 home visits, 76% of whom to exclusive breastfeeding. Community-based peer counseling was associated with a drastic improvement of exclusive breastfeeding practices. This intervention evolved and became sustainable by engaging political figures, cities, and communities throughout the process. In 2 years, the Department of Health, World Health Organization (WHO) program has scaled up to improve health service delivery for 161,612 persons in depressed urban communities in the Philippines.
Salud
M A Lourdes B
MA
City Health Office, Makati City Government, Makati City, Philippines.
Gallardo
Josephine I
JI
Dineros
Juliana A
JA
Gammad
Alma F
AF
Basilio
Juanita
J
Borja
Vicenta
V
Iellamo
Alessandro
A
Worobec
Lana
L
Sobel
Howard
H
Olivé
Jean-Marc
JM
D000329:Advertising; D001903:Bottle Feeding / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001942:Breast Feeding / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D053198:Child Nutrition Sciences / Q000193:education*; D003142:Communication; D003376:Counseling; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education / Q000379:methods*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007227:Infant Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D009035:Mothers / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology; D010379:Peer Group; D010679:Philippines; D012944:Social Support