“Breastfeeding gives infants the best nutritional and emotional start of their lives”
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 SDG2 and SDG3, which include ending hunger, improving nutrition, and promoting health and well-being.
The Breastfeeding Education Initiative (BFEI) aims to promote breastfeeding education through training and public awareness to contribute towards the achievement of 70% of babies breastfed exclusively by 6 months of age by 2030. To support this goal, the 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.
The Breastfeeding Education Initiative (BFEI) includes the following key components:
- Capacity Building & Public Awareness
- Partnerships
CAPACITY BUILDING & PUBLIC AWARENESS
The Magic Drop e-learning course
This e-learning course aims at empowering parents to be in control of their own breastfeeding journey and make well-informed choices while ensuring that health care workers, families, communities, and employers have the resources and knowledge they need to effectively support women to breastfeed.
To register for the course, please click here.
Webinar Series: Supporting Breastfeeding in the Community
The Supporting Breastfeeding in the Community Webinar Series is a collection of free, online learning webinar events led by experts discussing some of the most pressing aspects of feeding cues, mastitis and the challenges, barriers, and solutions of breastfeeding experienced by vulnerable populations, and the UN’s work to advance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
To register to attend, please click here.
For more information, please visit the following links: BFEI Webinar Series and BFEI learning platform.
Microlearning Courses
The Microlearning Series focuses on supporting breastfeeding in the community by providing essential information for mothers, healthcare professionals and anyone interested in learning more about breastfeeding practices and its benefits.
To promote maternal and child health and empower breastfeeding mothers, the microlearning series cover topics such as:
- Breastfeeding: Getting Started
- Pumping and Storage of Breastmilk
- Did you know?
To learn more, please click here.
Interactive Tools
The Virtual Breastfeeding Positioning Tool is an interactive tool that uses artificial intelligence and allows users to test and adjust positioning when breastfeeding. This tool helps reinforce correct positioning for successful latching and breastfeeding. This tool can be accessed by mobile device, tablet or computer.
To learn more, please click here.
Conferences
The objective of the Regional Breastfeeding Education Conference is to equip participants with training and learning tools to improve breastfeeding initiation and duration rates, as well as to enhance women's knowledge and skills related to breastfeeding.
To learn more, please click here.
Training of Trainers (ToT)
The Training of Trainers (ToT) workshop aimed to equip healthcare professionals with the skills to effectively train others in breastfeeding education. It focused on enhancing trainers' confidence and competency in planning, conducting, and evaluating breastfeeding education programs. The workshop also provided tools to improve breastfeeding initiation and duration, ensuring parents can make informed choices while receiving support from healthcare workers and the community.
Participants left the course with a solid understanding of breastfeeding science, its health benefits for mothers and infants, and the challenges women face in starting and continuing breastfeeding.
To learn more, please click here.
Partnerships
Facilitating multi-stakeholder collaboration is essential to this project. This initiative follows a multi-stakeholder approach to foster collaboration in support of breastfeeding education with the overall objective of increasing breastfeeding mothers’ practical knowledge, skills and confidence to breastfeed.
BFEI EXPERT COMMUNITY MEMBERS
The primary purpose of UNITAR Division for People Expert Community on Breastfeeding is to serve as a cadre of professionals to provide specialised knowledge and technical guidance to the UNITAR’s Breastfeeding Education Initiative; . Our breastfeeding expert community is dedicated to providing unwavering support, education, and advocacy for breastfeeding mothers and their babies. Through collaborative efforts, continuous education, and evidence-based practices, we strive to ensure quality lactation support, promote professional excellence, and advance the health and well-being of families worldwide towards contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals.
To meet the BFEI Expert Community Members, please click here.
Reports
UNITAR's Breastfeeding Education Initiative combines its experience in training and research to create adapted breastfeeding education wherever it's needed most. Explore our reports to better understand the Initiative's scope and how, through different activities and components (capacity building, public awareness and partnerships) we foster breastfeeding education around the globe.
To review our reports, please click here.
For more information on the BFEI, please contact us at: bei@unitar.org.