Training and Deployment of Pastors’ Wives as Peer Counselors for a Church-based Support Service to Improve Exclusive Breastfeeding Practice in Nigeria: A Descriptive Review of Feasibility and Effectiveness

Abstract

Inadequate support services for common breastfeeding problems are major reasons why many nursing mothers quit exclusive breastfeeding practice in Nigeria. The recent exodus of doctors and other health-care workers has made the situation worse. Community-based interventions are urgently needed to avoid a relapse of the marginal increase of the exclusive breastfeeding rate in the country. Therefore, this study reviewed the feasibility and effectiveness of training and deploying pastors’ wives as breastfeeding peer counselors along with leaders of women’s Bible study classes as co-counselors in a church-based support service to boost exclusive breastfeeding practice in the country. Searches were conducted using appropriate keywords in journals and databases such as Google Scholar, Christian Journal of Global Health, and PubMed. Relevant papers were selected and read thoroughly. Ideas, phrases, and clauses that answered the research questions were synthesized into themes. Previous partnerships with the church to provide support for specific health problems such as HIV/AIDS had been fruitful. The adoption of the Community Infant and Young Child Feeding Counseling Package in small priority areas by the government and its development partners yielded positive results. However, partnerships are necessary to make the service available nationwide. The use of existing opportunities such as the network of pastors’ will be an economical and rational form of the volunteer community mobilizers. Community-based breastfeeding peer counseling has effectively increased the initiation and duration of exclusive breastfeeding and provided an opportunity to address other problems related to breastfeeding. However, the allocation of matching grants to local government areas will be necessary to increase nutrition interventions and to motivate peer counselors.