Infants under 6 months not exclusively breastfed – Survey

The latest data from the 2022 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey (GDHS) reveals that nearly half (47.4%) of Ghanaian infants aged 0 to 5 months are not being exclusively breastfed. 

This statistic has shown little change over the past two decades, increasing by a mere 0.8 percentage points since 2003 when the figure was 46.6%.

While breastfeeding in Ghana is nearly universal, with 96.8% of children born in the two years preceding the survey having been breastfed, the initiation and duration of exclusive breastfeeding remain below the World Health Organization’s (WHO) recommendations.

WHO advises that children should begin breastfeeding within the first hour of birth and be exclusively breastfed for the first six months of life.

The survey indicates that 41.8% of children born in the two years before the 2022 GDHS did not start breastfeeding within the first hour of life. Greater Accra (56.2%), Ahafo (56.1%), and Eastern (51.7%) regions had the highest percentages of children not initiating breastfeeding within the first hour, while Bono East (29.4%) and Volta (31.6%) regions had the lowest percentages.

Nationally, the median duration for exclusive breastfeeding was 2.9 months. The Western North Region reported the shortest median duration at one month, followed by the Western (1.2 months) and Greater Accra (1.4 months) regions. Conversely, the Savannah Region had the longest median duration of 4.7 months, followed by the Volta Region at 4.4 months. Half of the 16 regions reported a median duration of less than three months.

The release of these findings coincides with World Breastfeeding Week, observed annually during the first week of August.

The 2024 theme, “Closing the Gap: Breastfeeding Support for All,” emphasizes the importance of breastfeeding and aims to promote access to breastfeeding support and opportunities.