Knowledge, attitude and practice related to infant feeding among women in rural Papua New Guinea: a descriptive, mixed method study

BACKGROUND: Despite the well-recognized effectiveness of exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of an infant life for reducing infant mortality, adherence to this practice is not widespread in the developing world. Although several studies on infant nutrition practices have been conducted in urban settings of Papua New Guinea (PNG), there is only scant information on infant feeding practices in rural settings. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate knowledge, attitude and practice associated with exclusive breastfeeding in various locations in rural PNG. METHODS: A mixed method study using interviews based on a semi-structured questionnaire (n = 140) and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) was conducted among mothers in rural PNG between August and September 2012. Participants were selected using convenience sampling. Included in the study were both primiparous and multiparous mothers with a child below the age of two years. Content analysis was used for qualitative data and descriptive statistics were used for quantitative data. RESULTS: Whereas most women indicated breastfeeding as a better way to feed babies, knowledge of the reasons for its superiority over infant formula was generally poor. Only 17% of mothers practiced exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months postpartum. Our study showed that the size of the gap between exclusive breastfeeding practice and global recommendations was striking. Taking into account the low educational profile of the participants, the disparity may be explained by the fact that most of the mothers in this study had no formal education on infant feeding. CONCLUSIONS: This study showed a lack of understanding of the importance of and poor adherence to exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months postpartum among rural mothers. As exclusive breastfeeding promotion has been proved to be one of most effective ways to improve infant survival, more attention should be given to it, especially targeting the large proportion of women who missed formal education on infant feeding in school. A proper community-based program including the tools for monitoring its implementation and effectiveness needs to be developed to transform policy recommendations into action in rural PNG.