Nearly half (47.4%) of children aged 0 to 5 months in Ghana are not being exclusively breastfed, according to data from the 2022 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey (GDHS).

This revelation shows a worrying stagnation in exclusive breastfeeding practices over the past two decades, with only a marginal increase of 0.8 percentage points from 46.6% in 2003 to 2022.

The 2022 GDHS report underscores that while breastfeeding in Ghana is nearly universal—with 96.8% of children born in the two years preceding the survey having ever been breastfed—the initiation and duration of exclusive breastfeeding fall short of the World Health Organization's (WHO) recommendations.

The WHO advises that children should start breastfeeding within the first hour of birth and continue to be exclusively breastfed for the first six months of life.

The survey found that two in every five (41.8%) children born in the two years before the survey did not begin breastfeeding within the first hour of life. This delay in initiation was particularly notable in three regions: Greater Accra (56.2%), Ahafo (56.1%), and Eastern (51.7%). In contrast, Bono East and Volta regions had the lowest percentages of delayed breastfeeding initiation at 29.4% and 31.6%, respectively.

Nationally, the median duration of exclusive breastfeeding was just 2.9 months, significantly shorter than the recommended six months. The Western North Region had the shortest median duration at one month, followed by Western (1.2 months) and Greater Accra (1.4 months) regions. Conversely, the Savannah Region had the longest median duration of exclusive breastfeeding at 4.7 months, followed by the Volta Region at 4.4 months. Notably, half of the 16 regions had a median duration of less than three months.

World Breastfeeding Week, celebrated annually during the first week of August, emphasizes the importance of breastfeeding and promotes access to breastfeeding support. The theme for 2024, "Closing the Gap: Breastfeeding Support for All," aims to highlight these issues and encourage improvements in breastfeeding practices across the globe.