Monitoring of Baby Friendly Hospitals in Switzerland

Since the launch of the Baby Friendly Hospitals Initiative (BHFI) of WHO and UNICEF in 1991, the Baby Friendly Hospitals (BHF) help towards a goof start in life worldwide. In Switzerland, BFH accredited hospitals implemented the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding and adhere to the Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes (WHO/UNICEF, 2009). Since 2000, data are collected about every mother-child pair and evaluated by the Swiss TPH (formerly by the Institute for Social and Preventive Medicine Basel). As part of this monitoring, UNICEF Switzerland commissioned Swiss TPH to analyze the data for the assessment of the certified hospitals and to document them in an annual report. Within the scope of the monitoring, it could be demonstrated that the proportion of children who only receive breast milk during their hospital stay has increased continuously in certified hospitals. The analysis of national data on breastfeeding (Swiss Infant Feeding Study project) showed that children born in certified hospitals are breastfed longer.