Sharjah Baby Friendly Office (SBFO) organised training courses for 231 medical and non-medical staff in the emirate’s major hospitals and heath institutions, in continuation of its efforts to keep Sharjah’s health professionals at hospitals and healthcare centres working in antenatal and postnatal care, up-to-date about latest breastfeeding practices being adopted worldwide.
The 20-hour training course, being conducted in collaboration with Khorfakkan Hospital in Sharjah and the Family Health Promotion Center, aims to strengthen their knowledge and skills towards successful implementation of UNICEF–WHO formulated ‘Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding (Ten Steps)’ 2018 Guidelines and the ‘International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes’ (also known as the WHO Code).
Training has already been delivered to 231 participants in four sessions over three-day segments in April, May and June.
In the wake of the sessions, SBFO and Khorfakkan Hospital have agreed to train an additional 300 staff members based at the hospital by the end of 2019.
The training course was developed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) following the establishment of their Baby-Friendly Hospitals Initiative (BFHI) in 1991. It was revised recently based on the updated BFHI Implementation Guideline and Ten Steps in 2018.
Following the latest revision, SBFO launched in December 2018 the Arabic version of the Ten Steps and distributed it to all Sharjah-based health facilities for implementation.
Dr Hessa Khalfan Al Ghazal, Executive Director of the Sharjah Baby Friendly Office, said: “This training course is a part of the SBFO mandate to keep up with recent developments in the medical field to ensure that Sharjah’s medical staff and health professionals are following the highest international standards in maternity and newborn services, especially after UNICEF and WHO released the revised BFHI implementation guidelines.”
She added: “The practice of breastfeeding lays the foundation of a healthy life for both mother and baby. This is within Sharjah’s holistic vision to care for all children from birth, in all aspects of life, including protecting their health and rights.”
Targeting newborns aged up to two years, the Sharjah Baby Friendly Project was successful in introducing the concept of a baby-friendly city and encouraging breastfeeding practices at both institutional and community levels, by adopting four initiatives that were implemented simultaneously for the first time in the world.
The first initiative, Baby-Friendly Health Facilities, is based on the International
Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI), launched by WHO and UNICEF. The remaining three initiatives included, Mother-Friendly Workplaces, Breastfeeding-Friendly Nurseries and Mother and Baby Friendly Public Places.
In December 2015, Sharjah was recognised as the world’s first Baby-Friendly City by WHO and UNICEF following the successful implementation of the project and its four innovative initiatives to support and encourage breastfeeding as the optimal option for both mother and baby.