Every ten years since 1979, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has set "Healthy People" objectives. These objectives for a kind of public health agenda for the country, and are used to assess the progress of some government sponsored public health programs.
Healthy People 2010 set goals of 75% breastfeeding in the early postpartum period, 50% at six months, and 25% at one year. There are other goals for exclusive breastfeeding, too.
I explored the Healthy People website, looking for information on how far we've progressed toward these goals. The 2008 data on "any breastfeeding" show us falling short of the 75% goal by 4 percentage points. Not too bad, and maybe by 2010 we'll actually make it.
It gets more interesting when you look at breastfeeding rates by ethnicity. Some ethnic groups are surpassing the goal significantly. Specifically, Asian/Pacific Islander, Latina, and American Indian/Alaska Native moms are exceeding the targets (with rates of 86%, 79% and 80%, respectively). White mothers may meet the target by 2010, since their breastfeeding rate in 2008 was 74%. The breastfeeding rate of African American moms has increased significantly in recent years, but is still lower, at 51%. (See my podcast interview for a discussion of African American moms and breastfeeding). And disparities by education persist.
While we're making progress, we have a lot further to go when it comes to exclusive breastfeeding. The goal for exclusive breastfeeding to six months was 17%, but the actual rate in 2008 was 10%.
The Healthy People 2020 goals are now in development, and the draft objectives have been opened up to public comment. I'm planning to comment on the need for a focus on disparities between different demographic groups, based on income, age, and race, for example. A few years ago I wrote about some of these stark disparities here.
You can comment here. The public comment period is open until December 31st.
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