Willingness to Donate and Utilize Human Breast Milk Among Pregnant Women in the Korle Klottey Municipal Assembly, Ghana.

Abstract

Human breast milk is well acknowledged as the ideal source of nutrients for the optimal growth of infants. The World Health Organization recommends that infants should be exclusively breastfed for the first six months of their lives. However, infants without mothers or who cannot breast feed need the services of Human Milk Banks (donor human breast milk). This study determined women’s willingness to donate and/or utilize donor human breast milk to feed their infants and the associated factors in the Korle-Klottey Municipality of Ghana. A cross-sectional study was conducted involving 384 pregnant women obtained by a systematic sampling technique. The data were collected using a researcher administered semi-structured questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics with the aid of SPSS software version 21.0. From the results, 43.2% of the participants were aware of human milk banking services. Meanwhile 64.6% showed good knowledge on aspects of human milk banking. Also, 55.5% and 33.6% respectively indicated a willingness to donate and utilize services of human milk banks. Factors associated with willingness to donate breast milk were awareness of human milk banking (p < 0.001) and knowledge of human milk banking (p < 0.001). Also, maternal age (p = 0.006), awareness (p =0.012), and knowledge of human milk banking (p < 0.001) were associated with willingness to utilize donor human milk. Our study showed that there is a likelihood that the concept of human milk banking (both donation and consumption) will be successful in Ghana if there is appropriate education and awareness-building about it.