Akwatia, Oct. 13, GNA - The Ministry of Health has designated the St. Dominic's Hospital at Akwatia and four health centres in the Kwaebibirem District of the Eastern Region as "Baby Friendly." The Health Centres are at Kade, Asuom, Pramkese and Takrowase. This brings to 27 the number of health facilities in the Eastern Region, which had successfully propagated the research findings that exclusive breast-feeding for at least six months from birth was the best food for babies.

Speaking at a ceremony at Akwatia on Saturday, at which the status was conferred on the five health facilities, Dr Ebenezer Appiah-Denkyira, Eastern Regional Director of Health Services, commended the institutions for the honour, saying others had for years struggled to pass the accreditation without success.

He pointed out that the "baby-friendly" concept entailed the change of knowledge, attitudes and practices of staff, management of health institutions and the community towards promoting the well being of babies.

Dr Appiah-Denkyira explained that the concept was a child survival mechanism that required exclusive breast feeding for six months without adding water or any food supplement, saying, that defied cultural norms and a break with the old ways of doing things and putting research findings into practice.

The Regional Director said so far 464 health providers had been trained on the concept in the region, which in turn, had developed baby-friendly policies and assessors had on various occasions visited to ensure that practices conformed to international standards. Explaining why breast milk was an ideal meal for babies, Dr Appiah-Denkyira said it had not only the right temperature, water content and nutrients for optimal growth, but was also free from contamination and it was "already made".

He said the child derived the right protective hormones from breast milk to fight diseases, especially acute respiratory infections and diarrhoea and was always available.

Mrs Sarah Nyampong, Deputy Director of Nursing Service and Matron of the St Dominic's Hospital, in her welcoming address, asked all those present at the ceremony to become ambassadors of the benefits of exclusive breast feeding.

The District Co-ordinating Director, Dr Osafo Adu-Amankwaa, noted that breast feeding had been found to provide food security, control population growth and contribute immensely to the reduction of infant, child and maternal mobility and mortality.