PAHO certifies JNF ‘baby friendly’
THE HEMESPHERIC PAN AMERICAN HEALTH ORGANISATION (PAHO) this week certified the Joseph N France General Hospital’s Maternity Ward ‘baby friendly’ at a brief ceremony and presentation of a plaque after successfully completing the initiative-certification process.
“In St. Kitts and Nevis, the Joseph N. France General Hospital has met all the requirements to become baby friendly since October of 2022,” Acting Permanent Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Health, Sharon Archibald said.
“Research has shown neonatal mortality is reduced by 22 percent when children are breastfed within an hour of birth,” Archibald said.
She expressed satisfaction that the health ministry has met its requirements for attaining the tmpressive status.
The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) launched the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) in 1991 as an accreditation process that requires a hospital to attain specific standards in relation to the 10 steps of successful breastfeeding.
Under the BFHI certified institutions that provide maternity services protect, promote and support breastfeeding. Breastfeeding is associated with short- and long-term health benefits for both mother and child. For the mother, this includes prevention of breast and ovarian cancers, and some cardiovascular diseases.
JNF General Hospital is reportedly only the third medical institution in the region to achieve the status of Baby Friendly Certified.
Dr. Amilia Del Riego, PAHO and WHO Representative for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, along with her staff attended the brief ceremony which culminated the qualifying process.
Nutrition and Surveillance Coordinator, Mrs. Latoya Matthew Duncan, noted “…in 2022 we did many remarkable things together.”
She continued, “Together we rose to the invitation to make a big impact. We showed up when it was time to dig into the details of complicated issues because we knew what it could mean for babies and families. We continued pushing and it was possible because of your support and commitment.”
PAHO’s Del Riego declared that having a policy identifying the government’s position on breastfeeding is a great achievement.
“The first one in your 10 steps, that’s not easy to achieve,” said Dr. Del Riego.
She added, “Compliance with the international code of marketing with breastmilk substitute; there is a lot of things in the industry, and the commercial push that we have to not only have baby formula in hospitals to give to mothers but the whole marketing strategy around the baby formula makes life very hard for health professional and for mothers to actually be able to implement. That is a feature of your policy that I understand that you have already implemented.”
The PAHO Representative congratulated the hospital’s Maternity Ward staff and management for their dedication to improving maternal and child health outcomes in St. Kitts and Nevis. The assured Basseterre health authorities of their continued support to promote and protect the health and well-being of mothers and babies in the country.
Other Health Ministry officials who attended the ceremony included Dr. Hazel Laws, Chief Medical Officer (CMO); Dr. Jenson Morton, Director of Health Institutions; Mrs. Lindsey Maynard, Director of Operations at JNF General Hospital; Dr. Marissa Carty, and Noncommunicable Disease (NCD) Coordinator.
