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Dates and Times

05 May 2025
18:00 - 20:15

Location

Address: Online

Organiser

Assoc Prof Julie Smith

Speakers

Various speaker

Enquiry

Tooling up the baby friendly hospital initiative – maternity care for gender justice and health of humans and planet

This event is jointly organised by the Tax and Transfer Policy Institute at the ANU Crawford School of Public Policy and the Health Research Institute at the University of Canberra. We acknowledge and thank the Medical Research Future Fund, Alive & Thrive East Asia Pacific, and the ANU Gender Institute for research funding.

The quality of care in the first few days after birth in hospital is critical to breastfeeding success but it also affects the health of the planet. New tools can expose the potential gains from investing in better breastfeeding support in maternity care.

Breastfeeding is important for children’s health, and also benefits mothers by aiding postnatal recovery and mental health and reducing lifelong risk of breast cancer. The first days after birth in hospital are critical to breastfeeding success. However, in Australia, around 30% of newborns are fed commercial milk formula (CMF) before leaving the hospital.

Facilities adhering to the WHO/UNICEF BFHI Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding have been shown to enable higher exclusive breastfeeding rates and continued breastfeeding throughout the first year. Equitable access to high standards of breastfeeding support in maternity care is essential to avoid health disparities.

The human rights of women and children to breastfeeding are violated through proliferation of maternity care barriers to breastfeeding, including unnecessary separation of newborns from mothers,  inappropriate promotion of commercial food products for mothers and infants and young children through health channels, and unnecessary supplementation with CMF products.

The Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) not only supports breastfeeding, it also reduces environmental impact, and this is often overlooked. Commercial milk formula (CMF) feeding has high GHG emissions, and water use. Exclusive CMF-feeding for six months generates up to a quarter of a tonne of CO2 equivalent GHG emissions per infant, and uses around 5000 litres of scarce water resources across the product lifecycle.

Reducing CMF use to mitigate carbon and water footprints is a win-win for climate, health, and economies.

Since 2020, our online program aims to galvanise efforts to improve breastfeeding policies and funding in national budgets, by applying new conceptual and practical tools to Australian policy, including gender responsive budgeting.

The webinar brings together leading international research on climate change and health services, with two ANU projects:

  • “Scaling up the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative in support of maternal and newborn health” (funded by MRFF) and
  • “Gender just reductions in greenhouse gas emissions in facilities providing maternity and newborn services through implementing the ‘Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative” (funded by ANU Gender Institute).

Drawing on insights from health services in Asia Pacific and elsewhere, the forthcoming webinar on Monday, 5 May will focus on Australian maternity services, developing themes from earlier webinars, introducing the Scaling up BFHI project, and demonstrating a new tool for action on human and planetary health through more sustainable health services.

Presenters will share insights and discuss innovative strategies to enhance health outcomes for mothers and babies while addressing environmental sustainability in healthcare facilities.

Registration is free and webinar Zoom details will be emailed upon registration.

This event is jointly organised by the Tax and Transfer Policy Institute at the ANU Crawford School of Public Policy and the Health Research Institute at the University of Canberra. We acknowledge and thank the Medical Research Future Fund, Alive & Thrive East Asia Pacific, and the ANU Gender Institute for research funding.

We also appreciate the support of FHI 360, Healthy Environments and Lives (HEAL) Global Research Centre, the World Breastfeeding Trends Initiative Australia, and the Breastfeeding Promotion Network of India.

 

Additional Information

PROGRAM

Monday 5 May 6.00pm – 8.30pm (all times Australian Eastern Standard Time)

6:00pm

Introduction and webinar instructions

Meeting Chair: Associate Professor Julie Smith, University of Canberra and Australian National University (ANU)

Meeting Co-Chair: Dr Andini Pramono, Australian National University

6.05pm

Opening remarks 

Mr David Clark, International Public Health and Human Rights Lawyer & Former Legal Advisor for the UNICEF Nutrition Programme

6.15pm

Scaling up BFHI in Australia – Integrating the Ten Steps into policy documents and professional standards of care

Assoc Prof Julie P Smith, Health Research Institute, University of Canberra (UC) and Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University (ANU)

6.30pm 

Monitoring healthcare facility compliance with the WHO Code (Step 1) 

Ms Constance Ching, Alive & Thrive East Asia Pacific

6.45pm 

High impact mitigation actions in health care: where does implementing the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding sit?

Dr Nujpanit Narkpitaks, Director of Environment and Climate Action, FHI360

7.00pm

Gender Justice and Green Feeding in Maternity Care

Dr Andini Pramono, National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, ANU

7.15pm

Who has access to BFHI in NSW Australia?

Professor Nasser Bagheri, Health Research Institute, University of Canberra (UC)

7.30pm

The Green Feeding Tool and how to use it

Dr Tuan T Nguyen, Alive & Thrive East Asia Pacific

7.45pmGreen Feeding Tool: User estimates of maternity care footprints in various country settings
8.10pm

What we have learned about the gender justice impacts of Scaling Up BFHI in maternity services   

Professor Jenny Gamble, Monash University

8.25pm

 

Conclusion – Tooling Up in Maternity Care

Mr Roger Mathisen, Alive & Thrive East Asia Pacific

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