Investigating the midwives’ knowledge on infant and young child feeding during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Implementing the WHO gold standards for Infant & Young Child Feeding (IYCF) may help in preventing stunting, which may worsen during Covid-19 Pandemic. Midwives can help educating the mother in proper child feeding. This research aimed to assess the knowledge of midwives working in the community on IYCF during Covid-19. A total of 88 midwives working in various healthcare facilities participated in this study. Using online survey methods, they were invited to answers questions that measure their knowledge on basic practices of IYCF, Covid-19 transmission risk in breastfeeding dyads, breastfeeding practices, and complementary feeding during the pandemic. It was found that the rate of good, moderate and poor knowledge on IYCF during Covid-19 Pandemic were 23%, 67% and 19%, respectively. In conclusion, less than one third of the respondents showed good knowledge – something requiring investigation on the strategies to build stronger capacity of midwives in terms of IYCF during Covid-19 Pandemic.