The World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) is a global network of individuals
& organisations concerned with the protection, promotion & support of breastfeeding worldwide.
WABA action is based on the Innocenti Declaration, the Ten Links for Nurturing the Future and the Global Strategy for Infant & Young Child Feeding. WABA is in consultative status with UNICEF & an NGO
in Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations (ECOSOC).
News from secretariat
WABA Global Forum 3
14 -17 June 2010, Quebec City, Canada.
Protecting, Promoting and Supporting Continued Breastfeeding from 6 - 24 + Months: Issues, Politics, Policies and Action
JOINT STATEMENT based on a workshop of the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) Global Breastfeeding Partners Meeting (GBPM) VII in Penang, Malaysia, October 2008
For more details click here
The WABA-FIAN Joint Gender Training Workshop
We are pleased to announce the upcoming four-day joint Gender Training
Workshop with Food First Information and Action Network (FIAN) that will take place in Delhi, India between 6-9 July 2009. The goal of this joint training is to enable participants both men and women from the breastfeeding and food rights network to raise awareness and sensitivity on gender issues. This training will also tackle the gendered challenges to breastfeeding and food rights issue. The training is limited to only 12 participants on a first come first serve basis. For more information, please write to Sarah Amin or Revathi at the WABA Secretariat (waba@waba.org.my) to indicate interest before 15 May 2009.
Please click here for more details.
World Health Day - April 7, 2009: "Save Lives - Make Hospitals Safe in Emergencies"
53rd meeting of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) 2009
The United Nations Breastfeeding Advocacy Team (UNBAT) CSW 2009 Statement - 'BREASTFEEDING & the equal sharing of responsibilities between women and men'. Click here...
International Women's Day 2009
WABA's IWD 2009 Press Release - 'Women and Men Unite to End Violence against Women and Girls'. Click here...
Announcement
The global Breastfeeding Initiative for Child Survival (gBICS) A worldwide Civil Society Initiative to improve infant health and development
The gBICS is a worldwide civil society-driven initiative aiming to accelerate progress in attaining the health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015, especially Goal 4, reduction of child mortality, by scaling up early, exclusive and continued breastfeeding.
UNBAT Statement to the NGO Committee on UNICEF, Feb.12, 2009. Click here to view statement
The UN Breastfeeding Advocacy Team (UNBAT) members are NGOs, that take action to protect, promote, and support breastfeeding at the grassroots, professional, and policy level. The team is comprised of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine, International Lactation Consultant Association, La Leche League international and WABA.
Announcing the WBW 2009 theme:
Breastfeeding: A Vital Emergency Response
Are you ready?
Leadership: Keep the Promise to HIV-Positive Mothers and their Babies.
See Press Release
News from around
International campaign calls for Nestlé to be expelled from UN initiative
Experts on Nestlé business practices have submitted a report to the UN Global Compact Office, calling for Nestlé to be expelled as a participant in the voluntary initiative. The Global Compact is described as: “a strategic policy initiative for businesses that are committed to aligning their operations and strategies with ten universally accepted principles in the areas of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption.”
Voices of 45000 People Reach World Health Assembly with a Call to Save Newborn Lives
This week, IBFAN, the International Baby Food Action Network, made a clear call when it launched its ‘One Million Campaign: Support Women to Breastfeed’ (www.onemillioncampaign.org) at World Health Assembly. The IBFAN team submitted a petition to the President of World Health Assembly, Mr. NS de Silva, signed by more than 45000 people from 161 countries.
Nearly all European countries were moved down into a lower category on a chart summarizing government efforts to protect breastfeeding. The International Baby Food Action Network Network (IBFAN) decided on the move in its 2009 State of the Code by Country chart, launched today at the World Health Assembly in Geneva.
Wellstart International launches the new 3rd Edition of Wellstart's Lactation Management Self-Study Modules, Level 1 on Mother's Day 2009.
This educational tool is downloadable for free from www.wellstart.org.
This tool is intended for use by medical and nursing students as they begin their clinical assignments but can be also be used by anyone who has never been exposed to breastfeeding issues before or those who need a quick review. The Third Edition was reviewed by 15 US and 15 international reviewers who are experienced health provider educators and/or care givers. Wellstart International hopes that this tool will be able to help increase the general knowledge of about lactation and breastfeeding promotion among the world’s health care providers irrespective of areas of specialisation.
Swine flu Outbreak
As the swine influenza A (H1N1) outbreak continues to escalate worldwide, the International Lactation Consultant Association urges International Board Certified Lactation Consultants (IBCLCs) and other health care providers and breastfeeding support workers to heighten efforts to promote and support breastfeeding, particularly exclusive breastfeeding during the first 6 months of life, and continued breastfeeding for at least two years and beyond.
ILCA press release about the importance of continued breastfeeding during the swine flu outbreak. Click here...
The Centers for Disease Control has issued updated guidance for clinicians regarding breastfeeding during the swine flu outbreak, encouraging exclusive breastfeeding as a priority to enhance maternal antibodies to infants and to reduce the risk of gastrointestinal and respiratory problems common with the swine flu. The CDC also recommends providing expressed breast milk to an infant who is too ill to feed directly at the breast. The CDC guidance is available here...
The United States Breastfeeding Committee (USBC) also recommends breastfeeding as a critical strategy to prevent infection of the H1N1 (swine) flu outbreak. To read the USBC press release, click here...
Breastfeeding can limit the severity of respiratory infections in infants and is particularly important for minimizing the risk and effects of infection during an influenza outbreak, such as the current H1N1 influenza virus (also known as the “swine flu”) outbreak, according to recommendations released by the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine (ABM). The Academy’s complete recommendations are available online here...
Breastfeeding reduces the risk for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)
According to the results of a case-control study reported in March issue of Pediatrics. For more click
here...
Research Grants
In 2009, ILCA will award a competitive grant to an ILCA member who submits a proposal with scientific merit. The 2009 Annual Research Grant will be a one year award of $10,000.
Details
Nutrition and Nurture in Infancy and Childhood:
Bio-Cultural Perspectives
8-10 September 2009
Cumbria, United Kingdom
Does Breastfeeding Protect Against Substantiated Child Abuse and Neglect? A 15-Year Cohort Study Click here for more.
UNICEF UK issues statement on hypernatraemic dehydration
Following recent media reports on the announcement of new research into neonatal hypernatraemic dehydration, UNICEF UK has issued a statement responding to some of the resulting claims. Click here for further details.
ONE MILLION CAMPAIGN : Support Women to Breastfeed
The campaign initiated by the International Baby Food Action Network - Asia (IBFAN - Asia) is a campaign that brings together people from all over the world to take action ranging from signing petitions demanding support to women to breastfeed, to individual actions such as pledging to support at least one woman for breastfeeding.
To read more about WABA's Global Initiative for Mother Support for Breastfeeding (GIMS) and to endorse it click here.
Don't send milk to Gaza – says top emergency nutritionists
If you are concerned for the health and well-being of children in Gaza, "Do not send donations of infant formula, bottles or milk products to Gaza", say top emergency nutritionists. A leading group of nutrition experts, including the World Health Organization, UN Children's Fund and NGOs, in a media brief published in English, Arabic and Spanish, state that the "indiscriminate use of infant formula in an emergency is extremely dangerous to babies, causing illness and death" According to the Infant and Young Child Feeding in Emegergies (IFE Core Group), "there is no need to send for donations of infant formula, powdered milk or baby bottles to be sent to the site of an emergency." - Reuters AlertNet - London, England, UK. More
For a Guide for the Media on Infant and Young Child Feeding in Emergencies by the IFE Core Group in English, Spanish & Arabic.
Flash-heated breastmilk can be utilized for "replacement feeding".
Kiersten Israel Ballard, researcher on home-pasteurization of expressed breastmilk in the context of HIV has shared with WABA that flash-heated breastmilk can be utilized for "replacement feeding" More
Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine calls on Facebook to review it ban on breastfeeding photographs
The Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine feels that the social networking website, Facebook, would be well advised to review its policy banning photographs of breastfeeding mothers. Such a policy perpetuates a notion that breastfeeding is an unseemly bodily function best kept from public viewing, a misguided and antiquated concept that has no place in contemporary society. It further perpetuates the idea that formula feeding is normative when breastfeeding is, and should be considered, normative infant and young child feeding. Health professional widely acknowledge that breastfeeding is biologically unique and appropriate for mother and infant. More
The campaign initiated by the International Baby Food Action Network - Asia (IBFAN - Asia) is a campaign that brings together people from all over the world to take action ranging from signing petitions demanding support to women to breastfeed, to individual actions such as pledging to support at least one woman for breastfeeding.
