OBJECTIVE: Evaluate the Baby-Friendly Health Care Initiative in Brazil under 2004 directions, with the inclusion of new criteria for credentials by the Ministry of Health. DATA SOURCES: Information obtained through consultation of reports of the Ministry of Health, The United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) and articles related to Baby-Friendly Health Care Initiative were retrieved at Medline, SciELO and Lilacs. DATA SYNTHESIS: Until May 2008, credentials were given to 337 hospitals: 153 in the Northeast, 72 in the Southeast, 54 in the South, 37 in the Midwest and 21 in the North. Ten hospitals lost the credentials. From December 2004 on, the Ministry of Health considered that to be entitled as a Baby-Friendly Hospital, the maternity needed to fulfill "Ten steps for the success of breastfeeding" and ten new requirements. The federal decision number 756/16 included: guarantee of civil registers to at least 70% of the newly-born infants, adhesion to the Brazilian Norm of Food Commercialization for Suckles and limitation of C-sections. Analysis of the data shows that the number of certifications was reduced during the last years. CONCLUSIONS: Baby-Friendly Health Care Initiative is a successful experience and it has contributed positively for the increase of breastfeeding along with other adopted measures. The new criteria must be reevaluated, since it made the process of certification more difficult in the country.
breastfeeding; program evaluation; hospital care; Baby-friendly Healthcare
