ArticleBMC pregnancy and childbirth2025
Antenatal care and breastfeeding practices in Sub-Saharan Africa: an analysis of demographic and health surveys.
Article in BMC pregnancy and childbirth, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Interventions to support breastfeeding among mothers living with HIV: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.International journal of infectious diseases : IJID : official publication of the International Society for Infectious Diseases · 2025Pooled it
- Inequalities in maternal health service utilisation in Somalia: analysis of the 2020 Somali health and demographic survey.Global health action · 2026Article
- Predictors of Exclusive Breastfeeding Amongst Mothers Living With HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Scoping Review.Health science reports · 2026Article
- Evaluating policy guidelines for the prevention and management of anaemia in pregnancy in Africa: a systematic scoping review of practices and recommendations.Tropical medicine and health · 2026Article
- Delayed Breastfeeding Initiation and Associated Factors in Tanzania: A Cross-Sectional Study.Health science reports · 2026Article
- Predictors of antenatal care service utilization among women of reproductive age in Somalia: a systematic review.Frontiers in reproductive health · 2026Review
- Geographic inequalities in exclusive breastfeeding among infants under six months across 18 African countries.International breastfeeding journal · 2025Article
- Pregnancy Intentions and Maternal Health Behaviours: Observational Study in 18 African Countries.BJOG : an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology · 2025Observational
- Factors associated with successful exclusive breastfeeding among mothers in the formal sector: a mixed-method study in Kampala, Uganda.International breastfeeding journal · 2025Article
- Antenatal Care Utilization in Somalia, 2020 Somalia Demographic Health Survey.Journal of epidemiology and global health · 2025Article
- The effect of breastfeeding on treatment outcomes in in-vitro fertilization frozen embryo transfer cycles.Journal of assisted reproduction and genetics · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe World Health Organization (WHO) recommends immediate breastfeeding (within the first hour after birth) and exclusive breastfeeding (for the first six months of life), particularly in low-resource settings such as sub-Saharan Africa. In 2016, WHO updated its antenatal care (ANC) guidelines, recommending at least eight (8+) ANC contacts during pregnancy to improve maternal and child health outcomes. This study investigates i) trends in breastfeeding practices across sub-Saharan Africa following the rollout of the revised WHO 2016 ANC policy and ii) the relationship between ANC uptake and exclusive or early breastfeeding.
methodsWe performed a secondary analysis of Demographic and Health Survey data from 19 countries, from 2018-2023. Key variables included exclusive breastfeeding, early initiation of breastfeeding (within one hour of birth), and the number of ANC contacts (categorized into 0-3, 4-7, and 8 + visits) among mothers with a live birth in the six months preceding the survey.
resultsExclusive breastfeeding rates ranged from 19% in Gabon to 81% in Rwanda (median = 53%), while early initiation of breastfeeding ranged from 32% in Senegal to 85% in Rwanda (median = 60%). The percentage of women with 8 + ANC contacts ranged from 0.3% in Rwanda to 39% in Ghana (median = 4%). Women with 8 + ANC contacts did not show increased odds of early initiation (aOR: 0.94; 95% CI: 0.84, 1.05) or exclusive breastfeeding (aOR: 0.85; 95% CI: 0.76, 0.94) compared to women with 4-7 contacts. DISCUSSION: These findings reveal low rates of 8 + ANC contacts against a backdrop of suboptimal breastfeeding practices across sub-Saharan Africa. Furthermore, the results suggest limited additional benefits of 8 + ANC contacts over 4-7 contacts in promoting immediate and exclusive breastfeeding, as recommended by the WHO 2016 ANC policy. Urgent efforts are needed to promote ANC uptake and improve the quality of ANC contacts through behavior change interventions and complementary health service delivery. Sub-national, national, and global stakeholders should prioritize these interventions.
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