A recent report from the 2022 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey (GDHS) has highlighted significant gaps in exclusive breastfeeding practices in Ghana, with almost half (47.4%) of children not being exclusively breastfed.
The data reveals that the percentage of children under 6 months not being exclusively breastfed has remained relatively unchanged over the past two decades, showing a slight increase of 0.8 percentage points from 46.6% in 2003 to 47.4% in 2022.
While breastfeeding in Ghana is nearly universal, with 96.8% of children born in the two years preceding the survey having ever been breastfed, the initiation and duration of exclusive breastfeeding fall short of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) recommendations.
The WHO recommends that children should start breastfeeding within the first hour of birth and be exclusively breastfed for the first six months of life.
The survey found that 41.8% of children born in the two years preceding the 2022 GDHS did not start breastfeeding within the first hour of life.
In three regions—Greater Accra (56.2%), Ahafo (56.1%), and Eastern (51.7%)—more than half of the children did not initiate breastfeeding within the first hour.
The Bono East Region had the lowest percentage of children not starting breastfeeding within the first hour (29.4%), followed by the Volta Region (31.6%).
Nationally, the median duration for exclusive breastfeeding was reported as 2.9 months.
The Western North Region had the shortest median duration of one month, followed by the Western (1.2 months) and Greater Accra (1.4 months) regions.
Half of the country’s 16 regions had a median duration of less than three months for exclusive breastfeeding. The Savannah Region had the longest median duration at 4.7 months, followed by the Volta Region at 4.4 months.
The findings come as Ghana prepares to observe World Breastfeeding Week, which is commemorated annually during the first week of August to highlight the importance of breastfeeding and promote access to breastfeeding support.
The theme for 2024 is “Closing the Gap: Breastfeeding Support for All,” emphasizing the need to enhance breastfeeding practices across the nation.
These insights call for renewed efforts to promote and support exclusive breastfeeding practices in Ghana to ensure the health and well-being of infants, aligning with global health recommendations.
