CORE Group Global Health Practitioner Conference 2019

1. Breaking barriers to improve health
and nutrition at community level:
Baby-Friendly Community Initiative
(BFCI)- MCSP’s experience with roll
out in western Kenya
Core Group Conference, May 8, 2019
Justine Kavle, PhD, MPH, Nutrition Team Lead, MCSP

2. Strengthening nutrition-health integration
across the continuum of care
Antenatal
Care
Childbirth Postnatal
Care
Child
Visits
FACILITY LEVEL
COMMUNITY LEVEL
Support groups, community-based workers, home visits
MULTI-SECTORAL ENGAGEMENT
Agriculture, water, and sanitation
MCSP’s How To Strengthen Nutrition Within the Health Platform Journal Supplement launch event, Feb 12, 2019

3. What is the Baby Friendly Community Initiative?
• Expands on 10th step of the
Baby-Friendly Hospital
Initiative (BFHI) and 10
Steps to Successful
Breastfeeding
• High Impact Nutrition
Intervention (HINI) for
Kenya
Serves as a multisectoral platform:
• Maternal nutrition
• Exclusive breastfeeding and
complementary feeding
• Growth monitoring and
promotion
• Essential hygiene actions
• Developmental milestones
• Kitchen/community gardens

4. National BFCI Implementation Guidelines and Key
Materials

5. How is BFCI implemented at community level?
• Community Mother Support Groups meetings (bi-
monthly)
• Mother to Mother Support Groups meetings
• Monthly household visits
• Referral and linkages between community and facility
• Baby friendly community meetings /dialogues

6. Infant and Young Child
Feeding Indicators through
BFCI
1. Proportion of infants put to the breast within one hour of delivery
2. Proportion of infants exclusively breastfed in the first six months of
life
3. Proportion of children who receive any pre-lacteal feeds within the
first three days of life
4. Proportion of children (6 – 8months) who receive complementary
foods
5. Proportion of children (6 – 11 months) who ate any animal-source,
iron-rich foods

7. Key Gaps in Infant and Young Child Feeding
& the Sick Child in Kenya
• Knowledge gap among mothers on feeding of the sick
child during and after illness (increased, and continued
feeding)
• Inadequate capacity of health workers & community
health volunteers to counsel and support mothers on
feeding of the sick newborn and child

8. Photo courtesy: George Ndagu
How can BFCI, as a platform, address the sick and
vulnerable newborn and child?
Photo Credit: Allan Gichigi/MCSP

9. Lessons learnt- BFCI
• Household screening & referral for acute malnutrition
• Community dialogue to address cultural myths and
misconceptions regarding the sick child
• Counseling on increased & continued feeding of sick
child
• Strengthen facility and community linkages -
Identification and referrals of sick child (i.e. difficult / fast
breathing, vomiting, diarrhea, stops breastfeeding)

10. Resources & References
Kenya BFCI guidelines (M & E tools)
• https://www.mcsprogram.org/wp-
content/uploads/2018/04/BFCI-Implementation-
Guidelines.pdf
Kenya BFCI paper, Kavle et al. 2019 From National Guidelines
to Implementation: A Multisectoral Platform for Improving IYCF
Practices and Integrated Health Services, Maternal and Child
Nutrition February 2019
• https://www.mcsprogram.org/resource/baby%E2%80%90frie
ndly-community-initiative-from-national-guidelines-to-

11. Ahsanteni sana
(Thank you)!
Photo Credit: Allan Gichigi/MCSP

12. For more information, please visit
www.mcsprogram.org
This presentation was made possible by the generous support of the American people through
the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), under the terms of the
Cooperative Agreement AID-OAA-A-14-00028. The contents are the responsibility of the
authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.
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