People's initiative to counteract misinformation and marketing practices: the Pembo, Philippines, breastfeeding experience, 2006

J Hum Lact. 2009 Aug;25(3):341-9; quiz 362-5. doi: 10.1177/0890334409334605. Epub 2009 Apr 21.

Abstract

The Philippines is among 42 countries accounting for 90% of under 5-year-old deaths. Only 16% of 4 to 5 month old Filipinos exclusively breastfeed. In 2006, almost $100 million was spent advertising formula in the Philippines. To counter widespread misinformation and improve breastfeeding a peer counseling intervention was developed to target mothers with infants less than 2 months of age who were not exclusively breastfeeding or had difficulty breastfeeding. Participants received 3 peer counseling visits. At baseline and 3 weeks later, 24-hour food recalls for infants were collected. The number of exclusively formula-fed infants decreased seven-fold (P < .001). Mixed-fed infants decreased 37% (P < .001). Overall, of the 148 nonexclusively breastfeeding infants, 69.5% had changed feeding methods after 3 home visits, 76% of whom to exclusive breastfeeding. Community-based peer counseling was associated with a drastic improvement of exclusive breastfeeding practices. This intervention evolved and became sustainable by engaging political figures, cities, and communities throughout the process. In 2 years, the Department of Health, World Health Organization (WHO) program has scaled up to improve health service delivery for 161,612 persons in depressed urban communities in the Philippines.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Advertising
  • Bottle Feeding / psychology
  • Bottle Feeding / statistics & numerical data
  • Breast Feeding / psychology*
  • Breast Feeding / statistics & numerical data
  • Child Nutrition Sciences / education*
  • Communication*
  • Counseling
  • Female
  • Health Education / methods*
  • Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice
  • Health Promotion
  • Humans
  • Infant
  • Infant Nutritional Physiological Phenomena
  • Infant, Newborn
  • Mothers* / education
  • Mothers* / psychology
  • Peer Group
  • Philippines
  • Social Support