The first week of August marks the 25th anniversary celebration of World Breastfeeding Week. The global health observance, which is coordinated by the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA), seeks to encourage and support breastfeeding in order to achieve the WHO's Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. Specifically, to improve nutrition, prevent child mortality, and support cognitive development and education.
The Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine (ABM) is a core partner of WABA and the "physician arm" for breastfeeding action. ABM's president, Dr. Julie Taylor, also happens to be the Senior Associate Dean of Academic and Student Affairs at AUC.
In her role with both organizations, and as a family physician, Dr. Taylor spends a lot of time educating healthcare professionals and patients about the nutritional benefits of breast milk, and advocating for investment in and support of breastfeeding. In addition to providing children with a healthy start to life, breastfeeding contributes to their growth and development and can decrease mother's risk of breast cancer, ovarian cancer, and diabetes.
During World Breastfeeding Week, Dr. Taylor and other advocates share a heightened platform to discuss these issues and call for international policies that enable families' success with breastfeeding.
‘Sustaining Breastfeeding Together is not just an ‘option,’ it is absolutely necessary to address the challenges we face in breastfeeding support. Only by cooperating with many organizations on many levels can we give consistent and accurate information to a mother and to support her with the right tools to help her feed her child.' - ABM statement
3 Ways You Can Support World Breastfeeding Week
In light of this important global observance, and to echo this year's theme of "Sustaining Breastfeeding Together," Dr. Taylor shares three ways that medical students and health professionals can celebrate and show support:
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Visit the Global Breastfeeding Collective online, a recently launched effort co-led by UNICEF and the WHO (ABM is a partner) to increase political commitment and investment to scale up global breastfeeding programs. In tangent with World Breastfeeding Week, the Collective released a country scorecard to track progress on seven policy actions and on the state of breastfeeding practicing within countries.
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Read ABM's clinical protocols, which are developed by international experts, to learn about breastfeeding management and to guide clinical decision-making on optimal early infant feeding.
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Download a World Breastfeeding Week message card and share ways in which you and your classmates are recognizing the observance and why breastfeeding is important to you.
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Shannon Toher
Posted August 02, 2017 12:48 PM