Background
UNITAR
As a practical step toward protecting the survival and health of infants and women, breastfeeding is a central part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and is linked to many of the Sustainable Development Goals. Breastfeeding is, for example, a critical aspect in achieving SDG 2 and SDG 3, which include ending hunger, improving nutrition, and promoting health and wellbeing.
Accordingly, promoting optimal breastfeeding practices, such as initiation within one hour of life and duration for up to two years of age or even beyond, is essential for improving global breastfeeding and child health.
Overview
UNITAR
Through the Breastfeeding Education Initiative (BFEI), UNITAR aims to:
- Increase awareness about breastfeeding through learning and training products.
- Make learning products accessible to policy makers, practitioners, and to the general public, while linking them to other assets.
- Enhance the capacity of government agencies and municipal authorities through practical knowledge and skills to implement pilot projects in targeted locations.
- Raise awareness on best practices that advance breastfeeding initiation and duration rates through activations and communications campaigns.
- Develop a minimum set of indicators to monitor progress in locations where there is a pilot project.
Learning Tools
UNITAR
The Magic Drop: Supporting Mothers along the Journey Opens on 30 March!
Empowering women in their choice to breastfeed requires knowledge on the science behind breastfeeding and a critical understanding of social and cultural factors affecting breastfeeding.
The free e-learning course titled “The Magic Drop: Supporting Mothers along the Journey” comes with a chain of steps that aim to create a community of concern for breastfeeding. It emphasizes the collective efforts needed to support women on their journey to initiate, establish, and maintain breastfeeding.
BFEI EXPERT COMMITTEE
BFEI EXPERT COMMITTEE MEMBERS
The primary purpose of the UNITAR Division for People Specialized Expert Committee on Breastfeeding is to provide expert knowledge and technical guidance as well as adequate support to UNITAR’s Breastfeeding Education Initiative. The Expert Committee, composed of 18 leading experts from around the world, responds to the real capacity-building needs of both individual and institutional beneficiaries by validating the learning tools and platform resources of the Breastfeeding Education Initiative.
LATEST NEWS & EVENTS
BREASTFEEDING EDUCATION INITIATIVE KICKS-OFF WITH EXPERTS COMMITTEE INAUGURAL SESSION
18 February 2022, Geneva, Switzerland – “Of all preventative interventions, breastfeeding has the greatest potential to improve child survival, health, development and wellbeing”. Breastfeeding is a critical aspect in achieving SDG2 and SDG3 — which include ending hunger, improving nutrition, and promoting health.
While breastfeeding is a natural process, it is not always easy. Mothers need support – both to get started and to sustain breastfeeding. Promoting breastfeeding practices such as initiation within one hour of life and duration for up to two years of age is essential for improving global breastfeeding and child health.
Through this Initiative, UNITAR aims to contribute to increasing women’s knowledge and skills to breastfeed by developing and providing a variety of educational tools that will target a diverse audience at the policy level, organizational level, and at the community level.
Today’s inaugural working session of the Experts Committee of the Global Breastfeeding Education Initiative marks the foundation of this effort at UNITAR that aims to make contributions to critical issues such as Nutrition and Maternal and Infant Health. During the session, representatives from different organizations from across five continents analyzed critical topics and needs to be considered in educational and training efforts.