• Resource Library
• Technical Resources
  • Assessment
  • Field Exchange Digest
  • General food distributions
  • Humanitarian systems
  • Infant and young child feeding in emergencies
  • Livelihoods interventions
  • Prevention and treatment of moderate acute malnutrition
  • Prevention and treatment of severe acute malnutrition
• Harmonised Training Package (HTP)
• E-learning lessons
• ENN Resources

Effect of breastfeeding on infant and child mortality due to infectious diseases in less developed countries: a pooled analysis

Document type:	Article
Topic:	Breastfeeding, Mortality
Author:	WHO Collaborative Study Team, Lancet.
Date published:	February 2000

Effect of breastfeeding on infant and child mortality due to infectious diseases in less developed countries: a pooled analysis. WHO Collaborative Study Team on the Role of Breastfeeding on the Prevention of Infant Mortlity. Lancet 2000 Feb 5;355(9202):451-455

Classic paper. This study addresses the protective effect of bresatfeeding according to the age and sex of the infant, the cause of death and education status of the mother. It was found the protection (relative risk) from breastfeeding declined steadily with age (5.8  for infants <2 months, 4.1 for 2-3 month olds, 2.6 for 4-5 month olds, 1.8 for 6-8 month olds and 1.4 for 9-11 month olds. In the first 6 months of life protection against diarrhoea was substantially greater than for ARI. For second year risk ratio was 1.6-2.1. Protection highest with maternal education was low. Paper did not assess type of breastfeeding.

This resource appears in: Research

« Back