Alive & Thrive Burkina Faso NetCode Monitoring: Health professionals survey

In 1981, WHO adopted the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes, known as the "Code”. In 1993, Burkina Faso adopted a decree that regulate the marketing of breastmilk substitutes (BMS). Updates were made to the Code at the World Health Assembly (WHA) in 2016. As a result, Burkina Faso revised its 1993 decree, and adopted a new revised decree during the Council of Ministers on March 17, 2021. Conducting investigations of violations is part of the monitoring mechanism for the implementation of the Code. The general objective of this study was to establish the status of the Code violations among mothers and in health facilities in Burkina Faso. The specific objectives were to assess (1) the prevalence of exposure of mothers with infants aged 0-23 months to the marketing of relevant products through the primary channels that are health facilities, media, and direct contact with companies; (2) the prevalence of interactions between health professionals and representatives of companies selling products covered by the Code; and (3) the quantity and content of promotional materials found in public and private health facilities. // The NetCode protocol for periodic assessments to monitor the marketing of breastmilk substitutes was used to assess the Code violations in health facilities. This was a descriptive cross-sectional study that was conducted in Ouagadougou in public and private health facilities: 32 health facilities (one was sampled twice) that offer healthy infant health monitoring services (vaccination, nutrition counseling, weight measurement, etc.) and the 10 largest maternity facilities. The Probability proportional to size (PPS) sampling was used for the 33 health facilities selection. The number of deliveries per year was used as the selection criterion for the 10 maternity facilities. // Two types of study populations were included: mothers of children aged 0-23 months and health care professionals. Within each facility offering healthy infant services, 5 mothers of children aged 0-5 months, 5 mothers of children aged 6-23 months, and 3 health professionals were included. For maternity facilities that offer only obstetrical services, 3 health professionals were included. Observations were done at these same facilities, and any materials bearing logos or names of manufacturers or brands of relevant products were recorded. Each item was photographed, or where possible, a specimen was requested and taken for further analysis. // This dataset pertains to the survey of health professionals.