Conhecimento de graduandos dos cursos de Farmácia do município de Fortaleza sobre aleitamento materno

Abstract

Breastfeeding is a practice that generates benefits for maternal and child health. The World Health Organization recommends that infants must be fed exclusively with their mother's milk entirely up to six months of life, after which breastfeeding should be supplemented with other foods gradually added up to 24 months, and may be extended to the moment desired by the mother. The advantages acquired by the baby include obtaining the necessary nutrients for its growth, earning immunological compounds, preventing some metabolic diseases, and contributing with its cognitive, motor-oral and emotional development. The infant also gains physical and emotional developments. Although many believe that this is an instinctive act, mothers may face problems at this stage that may negatively influence the decision to remain with exclusive lactation, often leading to early weaning. These mothers may experience cultural, social and negative influences from previous experiences, generating insecurity and abandonment of practice. Motivated health professionals should orient and transmit safe information to contribute to infant adherence to the practice of breastfeeding. The pharmacist is a health professional who stands out among the population in the orientation aspect due to the possibility of being found easily and free outside a health facility. Therefore it should be able to guide and know about the norms in order to guarantee the safety of this practice. This prevents some market interferences that destine products for this age group. The professional must combine knowledge and sensitivity to understand pertinent longings to the environment in which mother and child are inserted. This study aims to evaluate the level of knowledge of last year’s Pharmacy undergraduate students in the city of Fortaleza through the application of a questionnaire composed of questions related to the topic. This is a descriptive observational study. The population was composed of 124 concluding students from the year 2017. Among the participants of the study 66.9% (83) were female and 37.9% (47) had not come into contact with the subject during graduation and 73.4% (91) had no extracurricular skills. During the study it was observed that 8.9% (11) presented satisfactory performance, 59.7% (74) regular performance and 31.5% (39) poor performance. Through this study it was possible to identify the knowledge gap of these future professionals and in this way contribute to a better planning of classes and events aimed at this public.