IS IT NECESSARY TO PROMOTE BREAST-FEEDING IN BURKINA-FASO - A COMPARATIVE-STUDY OF BREAST-FEEDING IN URBAN AND RURAL-AREAS

Breast-feeding practices was studied in Burkina Faso, in an urban area (Ouagadougou) and in a rural area (Ziniare district), Two population- based cross-sectional questionnaire surveys were done using a cluster sampling technique, A total of 1047 mothers of children younger than 3 6 months were interviewed. The overall proportions of infants younger than 36 months who were breast-fed were 66.7 %, in Ouagadougou and 87. 1 % in Ziniare. Proportions of breast-fed infants were similar in the two areas until the age of 12 months (97.8 % and 99 %), A decrease in the prevalence of breastfeeding was seen starting at 12 months in the urban area and at 24 months in the rural area, In both Ouagadougou and Ziniare, breast feeding was often started late (after the first postn atal day in 27.8 % and 37.8 % of cases, respectively), and another sub stance was often given in the interval before initiation of breast-fee ding (88 % and 77.8 %, respectively), Colostrum was given by only 38.2 % of rural area respondents versus 71 % of respondents in Ouagadougou . During the first four months, few infants received breast-milk only (4.3 % in Ouagadougou and 0 % in Ziniare) but in most cases the only s ubstance given in addition to breast-milk was water (85.7 % of infants in Ouagadougou and 98.5 % in Ziniare). Mean duration of breast-feedin g was significantly shorter in the urban area (18.8 months) than in th e rural area (25.4 months). Few babies were bottle-fed (9.4 % and 0 % respectively). These findings could be put to use for designing progra ms aimed at improving breast-feeding practices.