Population attributable risk for breastfeeding practices on diarrhea and acute respiratory infections among children aged 0–23 months in India – What we know and we do not know?

Despite international and national efforts on prevention and management of deadly diseases like diarrhea and acute respiratory infection, children are suffering from it. The present study aims to measure the population attributable risk for both diarrhea and acute respiratory infection prevalence for children with different forms of mother’s breastfeeding practices. Data from the National Family Health Survey conducted in 2015–16 in India was used. The final sample size for the analysis was 94,144. Univariate and bivariate analysis along with binary logistic regression analysis was used to carve out the results. Additionally, population attributable risk was measured to fulfill the respective objectives in the present study. The prevalence of diarrhea and acute respiratory infection was 13.8% and 3.4% among children in India, respectively. The population attributable risk in the case of diarrhea was 1.5%, 2.2% and 1.1% for children who had early initiation of breastfeeding, exclusive breastfeeding, and predominant breastfeeding; And that for acute respiratory infection was 0.3% and 0.5% for children who had early initiation of breastfeeding and predominant breastfeeding. The present study has demonstrated that with early initiation of breastfeeding, exclusive breastfeeding and predominant breastfeeding, diarrhea, and acute respiratory infection among children aged between 0 and 23 months can be prevented.