Beyond the bio-medical orthodoxies: Socioeconomic and attitudinal impediments to exclusive breast feeding in rural Zimbabwe and possible roles of social workers and interventions to promote its uptake

Exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) which is one of the major remedies to infant and child mortality, is largely underutilised especially in rural Zimbabwe. EBF is a physiological process which transpires in a specific socio-economic milieu, to that end this paper labours to investigate the socio-economic factors militating against its uptake. Using the mixed methodology the paper reveals that issues such as poverty-gender inequalities, social and cultural beliefs are critical obstacles against EBF infant feeding practice. It is within the context of these socio-economic barriers this paper argues that social workers have a key role in facilitating EBF.