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The Baby Friendly Initiative is a worldwide programme of the World Health Organization and UNICEF. It was established in 1992 to encourage maternity hospitals to implement the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding and to practice in accordance with the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes. The UNICEF UK Baby Friendly Initiative was launched in the UK in 1994 and, in 1998, its principles were extended to cover the work of community health-care services with the Seven Point Plan for Supporting Breastfeeding in the Community.

The Initiative works with hospitals and other health-care providers to promote best practice standards and ensure a high standard of care for pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers and babies. Once a breastfeeding policy is in place and an action plan for going Baby Friendly has been developed, the organisation begins a staged approach towards implementing either the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding (for maternity units) or the Seven Point Plan for Supporting Breastfeeding in the Community.

UNICEF also offers an assessment and accreditation process which recognises those organisations that have achieved the required standard.

There are now 52 Baby Friendly-accredited maternity hospitals in the UK and ten accredited community health-care providers. In 2009, the Department of Health awarded a total of £4 million to 40 Primary Care Trusts in areas with low rates of breastfeeding to support them in seeking Baby Friendly accreditation.

Health benefits
UNICEF, the World Health Organization and the UK Government all recommend that babies are breastfed exclusively for their first six months of life. Studies have shown that breastfed babies are less likely to suffer from serious illnesses, including gastroenteritis, asthma, eczema, and respiratory and ear infections.

If all babies were breastfed, over £35m would be saved by the NHS in England and Wales each year in treating gastroenteritis alone.

Adults who were breastfed as babies are less likely to develop risk factors for heart disease such as obesity and high blood pressure. There are benefits for mothers too: women who breastfeed have a lower risk of developing breast cancer, ovarian cancer and hip fractures in later life.

Despite this, breastfeeding rates in the UK are amongst the lowest in Europe: 78 per cent of babies born in the UK are breastfed at birth, falling to 63 per cent at one week. Only one in five babies still receives breastmilk at six months.