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Factors affecting the adoption of exclusive breastfeeding by mothers in Chelstone, Lusaka
Authors: *Chimuka Nchimunya1, Hikabasa Halwindi2, Mbewe Allan2, Hazemba Alice2, Kingford Chimfwembe3
Number of views: 456
Exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) is important in improving infant health. However, in spite of this knowledge among breast feeding mothers, it still remains rarely practiced in most countries, especially in low-income settings. According to studies adoption of EBF in Zambia stands at 46.7% for the whole country and out of this Lusaka province accounts for 57%. The objective of this study was to explore factors associated with low adoption of exclusive breastfeeding and specifically to, assess factors related to social–culture and economic. The study design was descriptive cross section which used both quantitative and qualitative method with its study site being Chelstone clinic urban in Lusaka district. This site was conveniently selected in order to enable mothers from high, medium and low density areas to attend. A random purposeful sampling procedure was used on all women that visited the clinic and met the selection criteria. Structured questionnaire was used to collect quantitative data from 309 respondents which were analyzed by using STATA 11. The findings from this study indicate that EBF is still low (52.1%) among breast feeding mothers in areas surrounding Chelstone clinic in Lusaka. The Chi-square tests showed that there was no association between EBF demographic and economic factors. However, EBF practice was strongly associated to spouses (<0.01), support mothers receives from other EBF mothers (<0.01), cultural practicing especially among the Bemba, Chewa, Kaonde, Lozi, Lunda, Luvale and Tonga speaking people of Zambia (0.014) and presence of neighborhoods practicing EBF (0.05). However, after adjusting for confounding, only spouse (<0.01) and EBF(<0.01) had a greater influence on the mother's ability to practice EBF.
Keywords: Adoption, Economic Factors, Exclusive breastfeeding (EBF), Social Class, Socio-cultural factors.