Summits - SBCC and C4D
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Summits - SBCC and C4D
After nearly 28 years, The Communication Initiative (The CI) Global is entering a new chapter. Following a period of transition, the global website has been transferred to the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in South Africa, where it will be administered by the Social and Behaviour Change Communication Division. Wits' commitment to social change and justice makes it a trusted steward for The CI's legacy and future.
 
Co-founder Victoria Martin is pleased to see this work continue under Wits' leadership. Victoria knows that co-founder Warren Feek (1953–2024) would have felt deep pride in The CI Global's Africa-led direction.
 
We honour the team and partners who sustained The CI for decades. Meanwhile, La Iniciativa de Comunicación (CILA) continues independently at cila.comminitcila.com and is linked with The CI Global site.
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Breast-feeding counselling and its effect on the prevalence of exclusive breast-feeding

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Haque, M. F., M. Hussain, et al. (2002). "Breast-feeding counselling and its effect on the prevalence of exclusive breast-feeding." Journal of Health Population and Nutrition 20(4): 312-316.

Objective: This prospective intervention study was undertaken to assess the impact of repeated breast-feeding counselling on the rate of exclusive breast-feeding up to five months.

Methods: The study was carried out in two breast-feeding counselling sub-centres, established at the community level in the vicinity of two maternity facilities and one main centre established in an urban children hospital. Eighty-four pregnant mothers who attended the maternity facilities for delivery of babies were randomly selected and repeatedly counselled regarding breast-feeding-once just before delivery and subsequently at the completion of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, and 12 month(s) of age of the child. These child-mother pairs comprised the intervention group. Another group of 90 child-mother pairs was selected from the maternity facilities. Mothers in this group (comparison group) received a single session of breast-feeding counselling just before delivery of babies.

Results: Fifty-nine and 55 child-mother pairs in the intervention and the comparison groups respectively completed the one-year follow-up. In the intervention group, 54.2% and in the comparison group 36.4% of the babies were exclusively breastfed up to five months of age. Forty-two (88%) children in the intervention group and 29 (53%) in the comparison group were given complementary foods at the optimum time, e.g. after completion of five months, and 81% of the children in the intervention group and 100% of the children in the comparison group were given complementary foods in the first year of life.

Conclusion: It was observed that repeated organized breast-feeding counselling significantly improved the prevalence of exclusive breast-feeding to 54% which is much above the existing national prevalence (12.7%) in Bangladesh.