Introduction
The World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA), with the participation of its founding members and network partners such as IBFAN, LLLI, ILCA, LINKAGES and Wellstart International, and in collaboration with UNICEF, is holding its second Global Forum, Nurturing the Future: Challenges to Breastfeeding in the 21st Century.
The Forum will bring together a diverse group of individuals, organisations and provide a unique opportunity to discuss, review and formulate strategies to improve infant and young child health, nutrition and care through the protection, support and promotion of breastfeeding.
Forum 2 will focus on:
- Research which provides the evidence base for appropriate actions
- Capacity building to enable groups to implement more effective actions
- Popular mobilisation to ensure that actions are community and people-centered
With its African venue, Forum 2 will provide an opportunity for the rest of the world to learn from this unique and age-old breastfeeding culture. It will focus on ways of protecting breastfeeding from today's threats, varying from the baby food industry and its exploitation of the HIV/AIDS issue to globalisation and free marketeers' efforts to destroy the Code.
The Forum programme was developed based on the discussions held at the Global Breastfeeding Partners Meeting (GBPM) in Brazil, July 2001. The GBPM endorsed the continued validity of the first Forum goals, major themes and programme, and laid out Ten Critical Areas for Action. They recognised the need to strengthen the implementation of the Innocenti Declaration targets and, to build on these to support new activities such as humane birthing practices, better maternity care and greater community support.
The Forum has been planned with assistance and enthusiastic support of a host of groups involved in the breastfeeding and allied movements, including environment, women's health, human rights and humanitarian assistance groups.
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Goals
The four main goals of the Second WABA Global Forum are:
- To provide an opportunity for rallying worldwide participation in the movement to protect, support and promote breastfeeding, and maternal and child health.
- To examine how the breastfeeding and HIV/AIDS movements can work better together and with UNICEF and other UN agencies to reduce maternal and infant mortality, especially in areas of high HIV prevalance.
- To spread awareness on the rights of children and women to adequate food, health and care especially in developing countries.
- To strengthen existing and create new alliances in support of young child nutrition and care, with special attention to the women's environment, birthing, humanitarian assistance and trade union movements.
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Forum Framework
The Forum programme schedule is divided into two sessions: plenary in the morning and concurrent workshops in the afternoon. Please see the inside front cover for the Forum Timetable. It gives you a quick overview of how the programme is structured within the week. See also centre pull out for the plenary overview and workshop schedule.
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Programme
The thrust of the Forum programme is on the primary goal of the Innocenti Declaration: all women should be enabled to practise exclusive breastfeeding for six months and to continue to breastfeed while providing appropriate complementary foods for up to two years of age or beyond. WABA aims to do this through strengthening the four Innocenti targets and addressing other key issues in the protection, support and promotion of breastfeeding.
Thirteen additional issues have been identified as critical and needing attention and the Forum 2 programme therefore plans around 17 Core Issues or themes. These Core Issues are dealt with primarily through workshops. Plenary time has also been allocated for certain Core Issues to introduce a “new” link to breastfeeding such as birthing practices and environment, or to inspire us to integrate innovative approaches through popular mobilisation techniques.
Indeed, one special plenary session is dedicated to linking across movements to situate breastfeeding and infant feeding issues within the broader development perspective. This is to strengthen old links and enable new linkages with other social movements as part of the breastfeeding movement’s outreach and advocacy. The Forum programme offers a balance between issues, strategies and actions, with the aim that participants will not only have a ‘foundation’ in the key themes, but also some concrete recommendations for how to plan actions and activities to address some of the on-going and emerging challenges. The HIV issue has been given special attention throughout the programme by being integrated into several workshop themes, as well as having a plenary session of its own.
A Global Breastfeeding Charter setting the gold standard for breastfeeding will also be in the making. Participants will have an opportunity to input into this process of developing the Global Breastfeeding Charter. In addition, UNICEF will introduce its new “Golden Bow” initiative at the WABA Global Forum 2.
View Plenary Programme by day:
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Core Issues and Facilitators
1. National Breastfeeding Mechanisms
Dr. Arun Gupta, BPNI, India
2. Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI)
Dr. Audrey Naylor, Wellstart International, USA
Pauline Kisanga, IBFAN Africa
3. International Code
Yeong Joo Kean and Annelies Allain, IBFAN/ICDC Penang
4. Women and Work
Amal Omer Salim, IMCH/WABA Task Force on Women and Work, Sweden
5. HIV/AIDS
Pamela Morrison, IBCLC, Zimbabwe
Dr. Ted Greiner, WABA Task Force on Research, Sweden
6. Breastfeeding and the Environment
Susan Siew, WABA, Malaysia
Prof. Penny Van Esterik, York University, Canada
7. Outreach to Women's Groups
Marta Trejos, CEFEMINA Costa Rica
Lakshmi Menon, WABA, India
Sarah Amin, WABA, Malaysia
8. Global Initiative for Mother Support (GIMS)
Rebecca Magalhães, LLLI/WABA Task Force on Mother Support, USA
9. Globalisation
Elisabeth Sterken, INFACT Canada
10. Popular Mobilisation
Beth Styer, WABA, USA
Sarah Amin, WABA, Malaysia
11. Birthing Practices
Mary Kroeger, CIMS/WABA Task Force on Health Care Practices, USA
12. Human Rights
Prof. George Kent, University of Hawai'i /WABA Task Force on
Children's Nutrition Rights, USA
13. Humanitarian Assistance/Emergencies
Lida Lhotska, IBFAN/GIFA, Switzerland
14. Research
Dr. Ted Greiner, WABA Task Force on Research, Sweden
Stina Almroth, India
15. Information, Education, Communication / Information Technology
Andrew Chetley, Health Exchange, UK
Dr. Rob Vincent, Health Exchange, UK
16. Integrated Early Childhood Development
Dr. Miriam Labbok, UNICEF New York
17. Lactation Management
Jacquie Nutt, IBCLC, LLLI, South Africa
18. Men's Only Forum
Per Gunnar Engblom, Sweden
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Organised by:
Key Forum Partners:
International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN), La Leche League International (LLLI) and the International Lactation Consultant Association (ILCA)
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