I am delighted to have this opportunity to tell you about the work of the Center for Infant and Young Child Feeding and Care.  Established in early 2006 in the UNC School of Public Health’s Department of Maternal and Child Health, our mission is to create an environment in which every mother is enabled to choose and to succeed in breastfeeding, for her health, for the health of her child and for her family.

The Center’s work is based upon the recommendations in the NC Blueprint for Action on Promoting, Protecting and Supporting Breastfeeding, published by the Division of Public Health, the US Blueprint for Action on Promoting, Protecting and Supporting Breastfeeding, and on the Innocenti Declaration and the Global Strategy for Infant and Young Child Feeding. With less than 2 full-time staff and several enthusiastic students, the Center has made meaningful contributions to the forward momentum of breastfeeding in an amazing number of ways.

Over the last two years, the Center has addressed its purpose and mission by focusing on four goal areas:

1)  Designing and implementing breastfeeding-friendly health care and              breastfeeding support services;

2)  Educating and mobilizing major future leaders and influential groups;

3)  Creating the evidence base for action; and

4)  Developing partnerships that leverage action at the state, national and international levels.

Sincerely,

Miriam H Labbok, MD, MPH, FACPM, IBCLC, FABM
Professor of the Practice of Public Health,
Director, Center for Infant and Young Child Feeding and Care

To make a donation in support of the Center for Infant and Young Child Feeding and Care, please follow the link below.  Please designate Other  under Select a School Fund and enter CIYCFC under Other Instructions.