The knowledge attitue and practice(KAP) of health care providers(742 doctors and 732 nurses) were studied in 12 hospitals(8 university and 4MOH) i 8 governorates(4 in Upper Egypt and 4 in lower Egypt). The purpose of this study was to obtain a baselie of KAP of health workers prior to implementation of baby friendly hospital initiative(BFHI) and identify their need for training. Data was synthesized into a multicentre study in relation to the ten steps of WHO/UNICEF and graded according to mean percent from I toVI, so that grades I and II were meeting the baby friendly criteria of the global assessment of hospitals for BCFHI(i.e.>80%) while grades III and IV showed increasing degrees of deficiency(from 80/% to