Scarborough General Hospital Achieves Baby Friendly Accreditation

The Scarborough General Hospital is now officially an accredited Baby-Friendly Hospital. After commencing the process to becoming a BFHI-recognised facility in 2022, the SGH attained the status in June 2024 and on Friday, the commemorative plaque was unveiled. According to health officials, there are four hospitals in Trinidad and Tobago that have met the global standards for the Baby Friendly Hospital accreditation, with Tobago now joining the ranks. Tobago Regional Health Authority Breastfeeding Coordinator Debra Cook-Warner, who led the team which made this possible, admitted it was not an easy task. "The results of two internal assessments qualified us for international external assessment by PAHO officials attaining more than 90 percent in all areas of the ten steps to successful breastfeeding. Today, the Tobago Regional Health Authority can boast of an initiation of breastfeeding rate of above 85 percent. It used to be 16 percent." National Breastfeeding Coordinator Debra Thomas said this accreditation process has improved the standard of service offered at the hospital. "The BFHI became the catalyst for change in the obstetrics and neonatal department and the care offered to pregnant women and mothers became more dignified. Pregnant women were taught what to expect in pregnancy and delivery, and were able to make informed decisions about how to meet the nutritional needs of their babies." PAHO/WHO Country Representative, Dr. Gabriel Vivas Francesconi, noted that the Pan American Health Organization played an integral role in the accreditation training which has numerous opportunities for national development. "Having our hospitals achieve the BFHI status are a crucial success factor if we are to achieve the World Health Assembly global target of exclusive breastfeeding in the first six months to at least 50 percent by 2025." THA Secretary of Health, Dr. Faith B Yisreal, stressed that the Scarborough General Hospital must be a family friendly facility. She said there has been a reduction in the birth rate in Tobago and so the Tobago House of Assembly is planning to roll out a programme where families of newborns will receive support. "Having a baby box which we will give not only to do the babies born on Christmas and New Year’s, but to the babies who are born in our facility - all of them." The Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative is an international accreditation that was launched in 1991 by the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children’s Fund, with the goal of protecting and promoting breastfeeding in facilities that provide maternity services.