CAPE TOWN - A survey among pregnant women and mothers in the public health sector in South Africa has shown that hunger and not being able to attend a clinic during the Covid-19 pandemic were associated with reduced breastfeeding.
The findings underline the importance of adequate nutrition and access to healthcare.
“Lockdown-associated hunger may be affecting breastfeeding: Findings from a large SMS survey in South Africa” was recently published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. Lead author is Dr Nazeeia Sayed with Professor Ronelle Burger, Abigail Harper and Professor Rina Swart as co-authors.
“Breastfeeding needs to be protected, promoted and supported more than ever, as this can impact the health of future generations and also offers all infants a fairer, more equal start in life,” the authors noted.
A rapid SMS maternal and child health survey was conducted in South Africa in June 2020, with a follow-up in July of that year.
The survey was conducted among pregnant women and mothers in the public health sector who were registered with the MomConnect mhealth platform.
The platform is estimated to have enrolled more than half of all women attending public sector antenatal care services.
Using the survey, the research team explored the associations between breastfeeding, maternal depressive symptoms and hunger in the household.
Findings indicated a positive correlation between not breastfeeding and not going to the health clinic, and that the odds of hungry mothers breastfeeding were significantly lower.
Thus, hunger and not attending a clinic were associated with reduced breastfeeding, which confirmed the importance of adequate nutrition, access to healthcare, and other structural barriers to breastfeeding uptake.
No association was found between breastfeeding practice and maternal depressive symptoms in the study.
“We do not have pre-Covid data to compare our study findings to; nevertheless, these findings are sobering and highlight the importance of supporting mothers in our endeavours to improve breastfeeding in our country,” said Sayed.
Based on the findings, the authors recommended a “paradigm shift in efforts to improve breastfeeding”.
This includes strengthening of enabling capabilities like health-seeking behaviour and self-efficacy; direct nutrition support of pregnant and breastfeeding women; and highlighting the value of breastfeeding beyond only as an immediate superior nutritional and hygienic feeding method, to include food security and aspects related to non-communicable disease prevention.
*Lead author Dr Nazeeia Sayed holds a post-doctoral fellowship from the DSI/NRF Centre of Excellence in Food Security (CoE-FS), and is based at the School of Public Health at the University of the Western Cape (UWC). Co-authors are Professor Ronelle Burger from the University of Stellenbosch, Abigail Harper from the University of the Witwatersrand, and Professor Rina Swart (CoE-FS, UWC).
Cape Times