Austria
Breastfeeding provides short-term as well as long-term health, economic and environmental advantages to children, breastfeeding women, and society. Breastfeeding and breastfeeding promotion are thus effective and cost-efficient health promotion and prevention interventions and make an important contribution to child health. Therefore, structural and social conditions must be established to promote breastfeeding in all areas. A structured, evidence-based and participatory approach is essential to derive effective breastfeeding policies. Therefore, the evidence-informed global initiative "Becoming Breastfeeding Friendly (BBF)" of the Yale School of Public Health, which has already been implemented in several countries, was used for the participatory development of the "Recommendations for action for a breastfeeding friendly Austria".
The process is based on the Breastfeeding Gear Model (BFGM), which systematically assesses factors that promote and hinder breastfeeding. To this end, an assessment was made of 54 benchmarks in eight gears (areas of action): “Advocacy”, “Political Will”, “Legislation & Policies”, “Funding & Resources”, “Training & Program Delivery”, “Promotion”, “Research & Evaluation” and “Coordination, Goals and Monitoring”.
By identifying strengths and gaps, specific recommendations for action to promote breastfeeding were derived and prioritized:
- Ensure consistent, long-term funding for breastfeeding promotion measures and activities.
- Establish a national coordinating body.
- Development and Implementation of an evidence-based, accessible and stigma-free communication strategy to increase knowledge, awareness and acceptance.
- Continuous collection and monitoring of data on breastfeeding behaviour and infant feeding, especially among vulnerable groups in Austria, using appropriate indicators.
- Verification of access to collected breastfeeding data.
- Raising awareness of the International Code of Marketing of Breast-Milk Substitutes of the World Health Organization (WHO). Companies commit to implementing the WHO Code beyond the legal regulations. Implementation of the WHO Code is regularly reviewed (e.g. Code button).
- Long-term, integrative embedding of the topic of breastfeeding/breastfeeding promotion in the National Nutrition Action Plan as well as in other existing action plans and national strategies.
- Evaluation of breastfeeding promotion activities.
- Promotion of breastfeeding support structures such as the Baby-friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) in the health sector and increase awareness and adoption of the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding.
- Establishment of a central information platform.
- Implementation of consistent, evidence-based breastfeeding information for health professionals (doctors, midwives, dieticians, nursing staff, etc.) involved in supporting parents of infants and young children. This consistent information should be used as the basis for breastfeeding counselling.
- Provide evidence-based, consistent, breastfeeding-relevant teaching content on the importance of nutrition in the first year of life/breastfeeding in education and training for all health professions and all professional groups working with pregnant women, parents and children, as well as (early) educators.
- Promotion of evidence-based, independent education and training programmes.
- Expansion of the framework conditions for infant feeding, especially the promotion and counselling of breastfeeding, in prevention and care structures and the provision of low-threshold access.
The results provide a basis for planning and implementing targeted recommendations and measures to improve breastfeeding rates in Austria.