Heads-Up on the World Breastfeeding Week 2009 Theme

The theme for World Breastfeeding Week 2009 is “Breastfeeding: A Vital Emergency Response. Are you ready?” What a timely and important theme in light of recent hurricanes, tsunamis, and earthquakes.

Unfortunately breastfeeding in emergencies applies not only to natural disasters but to acts of war, as demonstrated by this quote from the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA):

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

Why is it so dangerous to send infant formula in emergency relief supplies? A guide for Protecting Infants in Emergencies explains:

Babies have specific nutritional needs and are born with an undeveloped immune system. For infants who are breastfed, breastmilk provides both food and immune support, which protects them from the worst of emergency conditions. However, the situation is very different for babies who are not breastfed. In an emergency, food supplies are disrupted, there may be no clean water with which to make up infant formula or to clean feeding implements and the health care system is stretched past breaking point. This means that babies who are not breastfed are vulnerable to infection and to developing diarrhoea. Babies with diarrhoea easily become malnourished and dehydrated and so are at real risk of death.

The guide gives an example of just how deadly infant formula can be in an emergency. One study found that of the over 500 infant deaths associated with flooding in Botswana in 2005 and 2006, nearly all of the babies who died were formula fed, and the risk of hospitalization was 50 times greater for infants who were not breastfed compared to infants who were breastfed.

For more information, visit the Emergency Nutrition Network. And start your planning for World Breastfeeding Week 2009 this coming August 1-7!