The Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative

The Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative ( BFHI ), launched in 1991, is an effort by UNICEF and the World Health Organization to ensure that all maternities, whether free standing or in a hospital, become centers of breastfeeding support.

A maternity facility can be designated 'baby-friendly' when it does not accept free or low-cost breastmilk substitutes, feeding bottles or teats, and has implemented 10 specific steps to support successful breastfeeding. The process is currently controlled by national breastfeeding authorities, using Global Criteria that can be applied to maternity care in every country. Implementation guides for the BFHI have been developed by UNICEF and WHO. For more information on the BFHI, please visit the UNICEF website.  For UNICEF's protocol on self-assessment, please click here.

For the latest figures on Baby Friendly hospitals, please visit this page regularly as we will upload the latest figures in (Excel format) as they are made available to us.  To download the file for offline viewing, please right click your mouse here & choose "Save target as...".

The data we have is provided by kind courtesy of Dr Miriam H Labbok. If you use the data available either in print or digital format, kindly include the following:

"Data from UNICEF records, regularly updated by Miriam H Labbok, MD, MPH, FACPM, IBCLC, FABM, Center for Infant and Young Child Feeding and Care,Department of Maternal and Child Health,School of Public Health, CB#7445,The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7445,Tel: 919-966-0928,Fax: 919-966-0458. Please submit any corrections or additions to labbok@unc.edu"