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 is now open!
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, “The Magic Drop: Supporting mothers along the journey” seeks to educate parents, family members, healthcare professionals, decision makers, and community members alike. It emphasizes the collective efforts needed to support women on their journey to initiate, establish, and maintain breastfeeding.
Registration is available now in 14 languages:
- English
- French
- Spanish
- German
- Italian
- Portuguese
- Turkish
- Thai
- Russian
- Polish
- Arabic
- Farsi
- Bahasa Indonesian
- Chinese
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
UNITAR LAUNCHES THE GLOBAL BREASTFEEDING EDUCATION INITIATIVE
30 March 2023, Geneva, Switzerland – UNITAR is pleased to announce the launch of its Global Breastfeeding Education Initiative (Global BFEI). The Global BFEI seeks to contribute to improving breastfeeding education through training and education to advance toward the achievement of 70% of babies breastfed exclusively by 6 months of age by 2030. To reach this goal, the Global BFEI offers a variety of educational tools that provide impartial information on the benefits of breastfeeding and practical training aimed at increasing women’s practical knowledge, skills, and confidence to breastfeed.
PROMOTING BREASTFEEDING EDUCATION IN THE SUB-SAHARAN REGION
30 March 2023, Dakar, Senegal – UNITAR, the Centre International de Formation des Autorités et Leaders (CIFAL) Dakar, and the Municipality of Dakar hosted forty-two nurses and midwives from Senegal, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Gabon, and Mali for a Training of Trainers (ToT) workshop titled “Improving Breastfeeding Education in Sub-Saharan Africa” on 15 and 16 March 2023 in Dakar, Senegal. The workshop contributed to the goal of promoting breastfeeding education and optimal breastfeeding practices. Primarily aligned with Sustainable Development Goals 2 and 3, promoting breastfeeding education includes ending hunger, improving nutrition, and promoting health and well-being. This workshop aimed to develop confident, competent trainers with the skills to plan, conduct, and evaluate training in breastfeeding.
12 December, Abidjan, Ivory Coast, UNITAR in collaboration with its International Training Centre for Authorities and Leaders (CIFAL) Dakar hosted the Training of Trainers Workshop “Promoting Breastfeeding Education in Sub-Saharan Africa”. The workshop brought together 25 nurses and midwives together with representatives from the Association of Midwives from Ivory Coast (Association des Sages-Femmes de Côte d'Ivoire), the Nursing and Maternal Care Department (Direction des Soins Infirmiers et Maternels), Society of Pediatricians of Ivory Coast (Société Ivoirienne de Pédiatrie), and Danone Nutricia Africa. The main aim was to provide a variety of educational tools that will target diverse audiences at policy, organizational, and community levels on protecting, promoting and maintaining breastfeeding.