Evaluation of the Adoption and Practice of Exclusive Breastfeeding Mothers and Pregnant Mothers in the Rural Community of Dissihn in Burkina Faso

Despite the efforts of the Burkinabe government and its partners in the fight against malnutrition, it remains a major public health problem. In 2020, two out of five children under six months of age were not exclusively breastfed and three out of five children under two years of age have an undiversified diet. The present study is a descriptive cross-sectional study of knowledge, attitudes and practices on exclusive breastfeeding during the first six months of life and complementary feeding of breastfeeding mothers and pregnant mothers. It took place from May to June 2020 in eight villages of the rural commune of Dissihn in the southwestern region of Burkina Faso. Interviews were conducted with 242 mothers including 152 primiparous and non-preparous breastfeeding mothers and 90 pregnant mothers through a direct survey. The mothers were mostly young, with an average age of 27 years, and more than half of them had no schooling 57% (n=138). The study showed that only 38.2% (n=58) and 36.2% (n=33) of breastfeeding mothers and pregnant mothers respectively had a good level of knowledge about the importance of exclusive breastfeeding. Analyses showed that the mother's age (p=0,024), her access to information on exclusive breastfeeding (p=0.033), her participation in nutrition education sessions (p=0.006) and in the infant and young child feeding (ANJE) services and practices learning groups (GASPA) (p=0.004) positively influenced her level of knowledge of exclusive breastfeeding in practice, 30.4% (n=46) of the mothers claimed to have exclusively breastfed their child during the first six months of life. Finally, 5.2% (n=8) of them diversified the diet of their children between 6 and 23 months of age. The obstacles mentioned by the women that prevent the optimal practice of infant and young child feeding (ANJE) were socio-cultural. A rate of 81.7% (n=198) of them found that certain local traditional practices made exclusive breastfeeding difficult or impossible. In addition, low food availability was cited as the main cause of less diversified diets among children aged 6 to 23 months. Age-appropriate feeding practices are low in our study area. Thus, nutrition education should be encouraged to reduce this problem.