| The health area of ??Cartagena has obtained the accreditation certificate of Phase 1 D Hospital IHAN for the hospitals and health centers that comprise it | A new program will train professionals for comprehensive maternity care The Region has received a new impulse to the promotion of breastfeeding with the obtaining for the Cartagena health area of ??the accreditation certificate of Phase 1D Hospital IHAN of the Ministry of Health, which supposes support for the work of protecting the breastfeeding that is being performed from Primary and Hospital Care. The BFHI is a World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF Initiative for the Humanization of Birth and Lactation Assistance to encourage hospitals, health services, and in particular maternity wards, to adopt practices that protect, promote and support exclusive breastfeeding from birth. The adoption of this good practice guide by health professionals is one of the priority objectives of the 1,000-day Regional Plan, developed by the Murcian Health Service (SMS) to improve the quality of maternal and child health care.
Its mission is to facilitate practices based on scientific evidence and with respect for the mother, child and family. All the health centers and hospitals in the Region have already adhered and accredited in phase 1D of the BFHI and it is expected that phase 2D will be requested in 2020. The IHAN accreditation is a complex process that requires a significant effort from the professionals involved and from the Administration.
For this, IHAN Spain proposes a program in four phases with an approximate duration of one to two years for each one. This recognition coincides with the celebration, from August 1 to 8, of World Breastfeeding Week, which this year focuses on the impact of infant feeding on the environment and climate change. On June 30, 2020, the Regional Commission on Breastfeeding was created, which approved the regional protocol for 'skin-to-skin contact' and the regional regulations on breastfeeding for the hospital and primary care areas. The SMS has developed the training program for professionals 'Mimala' (Comprehensive look at motherhood and lactation), which will start in September and will address training in breastfeeding and comprehensive care for motherhood in at least 80 percent of the SMS professionals. Great involvement in support of breastfeeding In the Cartagena Health Area, from the Primary Care consultations, midwives begin to advise and inform future mothers about the advantages of breastfeeding. During their hospital stay at the Santa Lucía Hospital, midwives, nurses, gynecologists, anesthetists and pediatricians help mothers who wish to do so in the beginning of lactation and in the difficulties that may appear in the first days. After hospital discharge, the midwife, the nurse and the pediatrician in Primary Care favor the promotion of breastfeeding with their support and advice, particularly in consultation. In more specific services such as the Delivery and Neonatal Unit, the Santa Lucía University General Hospital in Cartagena has an implanted model of postpartum care, the 'skin-to-skin contact' or kangaroo method, which favors or promotes immediate contact between the mother and the newborn, including after a scheduled caesarean section. Likewise, in the pediatric hospitalization area, joint accommodation and the safe room for infants and mothers are favored.
