The Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative is a worldwide program of the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children's Fund, launched in 1992 in India following the 1990 Innocenti Declaration on breastfeeding promotion. It coordinates a global effort to improve maternity services so mothers can more easily initiate and sustain breastfeeding, focusing on care for pregnant women, mothers and newborns at health facilities that provide maternity services, with the aim of protecting, promoting and supporting breastfeeding in line with the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes.
Facts
Launch YearSourced to the subject's own account Program StatusSourced to the subject's own accountActive and still expanding 1 Sponsoring BodySourced to the subject's own accountWorld Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) 1 Target PopulationSourced to the subject's own accountInfants in their first six months of life and their mothers 1 Health GoalSourced to the subject's own accountProtect, promote and support breastfeeding at maternity health facilities 1 Geographic ScopeSourced to the subject's own accountGlobal effort covering maternity services worldwide 1 Measured ResultsSourced to the subject's own accountAbout 15,000 facilities in more than 152 countries inspected and accredited Baby-Friendly as of 2011 1 Program status (class)Sourced to the subject's own account Classification
Program KindSourced to the subject's own account Connections
Delivers Practice
Entity-backed identity for the program-kind enum value this public health program already carries, resolved to a health practice by an explicit value-to-entity map (phase 3 bucket conversion, docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md). The program-kind fact itself stays on the program unchanged.
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative
WikipediaLead paragraph, first sentence (launch clause)
launched in 1992 in India following the adoption of the Innocenti Declaration on breastfeeding promotion in 1990
Lead paragraph, first sentence (naming clause)
The Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI), also known as Baby Friendly Initiative (BFI)
Lead paragraph, first sentence (sponsor clause)
is a worldwide programme of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)
Lead paragraph, second sentence
The initiative is a global effort for improving the role of maternity services to enable mothers to breastfeed babies for the best start in life.
Lead paragraph, third sentence
It aims at improving the care of pregnant women, mothers and newborns at health facilities that provide maternity services for protecting, promoting and supporting breastfeeding, in accordance with the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes.
Background section, first sentence
UNICEF, WHO, and many national government health agencies recommend that babies are breastfed exclusively for their first six months of life.
Criteria section, accreditation-count sentence
As of 2011, approximately 15,000 facilities in more than 152 countries had been inspected and accredited as "Baby-Friendly."
Criteria section, final sentence
The number of accredited hospitals has continued to grow.
- Wikipedia 'Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative': 'is a worldwide programme of WHO and UNICEF'; checked 2026-09-27.
Program classification, entity description sentence
The Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative is a worldwide program of the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children's Fund, launched in 1992 in India following the 1990 Innocenti Declaration on breastfeeding promotion.
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