Maternity Hospital No. 2 in Novgorod, Russia recently received a Baby Friendly Hospital accreditation. To meet the standards for recognition, the hospital implemented the Baby Friendly Initiative’s "10 Steps to Successful Breastfeeding" program and passed a rigorous on-site assessment by a Baby Friendly External Review Board.

The hospital is part of USAID’s Women and Infant (WIN) Health Strategy project, a three-year comprehensive reproductive health project. The WIN project is component of the Maternal and Child Health Technical Assistance and Support Contract (TASC), which enables USAID missions to easily access high quality technical assistance and support for maternal, child, and reproductive health; disaster relief; and nutrition programs. The WIN Project is being implemented in partnership with the Russia Ministry of Health, USAID/Russia, TASC/John Snow, Inc., and University Research Co., LLC, of which the QA Project is a nonprofit affiliate.

Created in 1998 by USAID/Russia and USAID/Washington to emphasize service restructuring and provider training, the WIN project seeks to improve the quality of maternal and newborn services, increase access to high-quality reproductive health services, and increase demand for these services among the population. One of the expected results includes an increase in the number of women exclusively breast-feeding their babies.

The designation also is significant given that the WIN Project has been implementing active interventions for less than a year. The Baby Friendly Initiative, which is sponsored by UNICEF and the World Health Organization, recognizes hospitals and birthing centers that create optimal environments for new mothers to breast-feed their newborns. (posted June 15, 2001)

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