Infant Feeding in Rural Areas of Koro, North Cote D’Ivoire: A Community Solution Perspective

This article aims to make a community diagnosis and plan implementation actions for the control and improvement of infant feeding and infants’ health in the rural areas of Koro. Infant feeding is a real child health problem in Côte d'Ivoire. This situation led to the initiation of a participatory community health approach in the rural area of Koro. It is a qualitative type of research in which Koro community was the target group. The research is categorized into three phases: social mobilization, community diagnosis, and the restitution workshop. With this, the priority problems of infant feeding in the community were identified as well as their solutions, and then an action plan was proposed for healthy infant feeding. The priority problems include the following: the rejection of colostrum, non-observance of exclusive breastfeeding, the inappropriate introduction of complementary foods, the burden of fieldwork demand on mothers, and early stopping of breastfeeding. From the responses obtained, the priority solutions considered include: educating the mothers of the community to change their perception about colostrum, and supporting mothers in the process of dietary diversification and stopping breastfeeding. To this end, an implementation action plan based on a dynamic and community collaboration framework was established to improve infant feeding. It appears relevant as a health monitoring support for the rural community of Koro.