title: Exclusive breastfeeding: aligning the indicator with the goal.
abstract: While the global objective is exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) for a full 6 months duration, the standard indicator is a "prevalence" indicator, that is, the percentage of all children under age 6 months who are exclusively breastfed at a point in time. That yields a higher percentage than a more direct indicator of duration and can be easily misunderstood, exaggerating the amount of EBF. A measurement of actual percentage of children exclusively breastfeeding for a full 6 months can be easily calculated from standard DHS and MICS data.
authors.affiliation: ICF International, The Demographic and Health Surveys Program , Rockville, MD , USA.
authors.forename: Thomas W
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Pullum
mesh_terms: D001942:Breast Feeding; D006040:Goals; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D013997:Time Factors; D014944:World Health Organization