Prevalence of Breastfeeding Practices Among Cuban Women in 2014

摘要

Introduction: Breastfeeding is the first measurement of nutrition and food security and considered to be a key element of infant health. The benefits of breastfeeding on the infant and maternal health are well documented in the literature. In Cuba the most recent survey was developed in 2014 and provides a document on indicators for assessing infant and young child feeding programs and strategies. Objective: To analyze the breastfeeding practices and associated factors among mothers of children less than 24 months in rural and urban areas of Cuba. Methods: A complex, stratified, multi-stage cluster sampling design was used. The questionnaire was administered to the mothers by trained personnel of different statistic division in the country and collected information on the general characteristics of the household, men and women between 15 to 49 years and children below five years. Information related to initiation of breastfeeding, exclusive breastfeeding for up to six months, and continuation of breastfeeding until 24 months of age, among others were recorded. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the outcome variables and other variables of interest using the SPSS package version 21. Results: Most respondent have between 20-24 years age. The prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding was 33,2% with a limit of confidence 95% between de 18-48, from 0 to 1 monththe prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding shows 93,3% but from 2 to 3 months this dropped sharply to 28,7%. Data from this survey suggest that the biggest percent of mother who initiated breastfeeding within one hour of birth corresponded with the secondary level of education (59,4%) while the biggest percent of mother who initiated breastfeeding in the first day after delivery was in correspondence with the university level. Conclusion: The prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding until 6 months of age in Cuba continues to be suboptimal, this findings indicate that is necessary to support breastfeeding and increases promotional activities.