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Taking Action to Ensure Breastfeeding Support for Mothers from all Parts of Society (Global Initiative for Mother Support)
La Leche League 18th
International Conference
Strength through Diversity - Creating One Breastfeeding World
San Francisco, California, USA
July 3-6, 2003
Sunday, July 6 - Session
#306
Global Issues - Taking Action to Ensure Breastfeeding Support for
Mothers from all Parts of Society (Global Initiative for Mother
Support)
Presenters: Rebecca Magalhães
and Nair Carrasco
Facilitators: Dr. Prashant Gangal and Elaine Dawson
Rebecca Magalhães
presented background information on the Global Initiative for Mother
Support (GIMS), a primary activity of the WABA Mother Support Task Force.
GIMS aims to create the appropriate environment of awareness and support
for a mother to initiate and sustain breastfeeding. As defined by GIMS,
mother support is any support provided to mothers for the purpose of
improving breastfeeding practices for both mother and baby. The support
needed varies from woman to woman but generally includes encouragement,
accurate and timely information, humane care during childbirth, advice,
reassurance, affirmation, hands-on assistance, and practical tips.
Vision:
Every woman irrespective of her circumstance of residence will have
lay, professional and social support for breastfeeding and will receive
the necessary information, education and encouragement enabling her
to have the breastfeeding experience she and her child want.
Purpose:
To put optimal outcomes for the mother and her baby at the core of steps
taken in providing breastfeeding information, education, support and
care.
Activities that took place
in 2002:
a) Asia Mother Support Conference, April 21 - 23, 2002; Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia
Key outcomes:
- List of recommendations
that touched on the many facets of mother support from the family
and community context to health and legal contexts.
- Personal and organizational
commitments that ranged from strengthening existing activities to
organizing new ones such as promotion of involvement of men and boys
in maternal support and to form Mother Support Groups with traditional
old people, family members, housemaids, NGOs and others.
- The launching of a new
GIMS regional network for Asia-Pacific.
- A wider perspective on
mother support that recognizes:
- that women need support throughout their reproductive cycle;
- that mother support is not limited to just mother-to-mother support;
- that every sector of the community has a clear role and responsibility
to play in supporting mothers; and
- that useful traditional practices which support mothers should continue
to be highlighted and strengthened, such as special foods, healing
remedies, massage techniques, and holistic treatments of the mother
and baby; and that new ones might be developed where there is a need.
b) Latin American Conference
on the Global Initiative for Mother Support (GIMS) August 25-31, 2002;
Lima, Peru
Recommendations:
- Gain better support for
all mothers who return to work when breastfeeding, from sectors that
are linked to the mother and child
- Establish a very tight
link between community support groups and the hospital
- Important to involve the
father, his role is essential
- It is important to promote
social responsibility, not only through politics and legislation,
but also through the establishment of local community procedures,
which should encompass:
- Monitoring of compliance
with legal policies and provisions
- Monitoring of the government's
progress in meeting its obligations
- Looking at the role of
the media and attempting to point them toward the right messaging
to mothers
c) GIMS Workshops at the
WABA Global Forum II, September 23 - 27, 2002; Arusha, Tanzania
Ideas for Action:
- Promote capacity building
on support for mothers at all levels
- Create an awareness of
the value of the existing support and build on it
- Disseminate the need that
mothers have for support during the process of pregnancy, childbirth
and breastfeeding
- Empower the mother, through
different strategies, for her to know that she has the right to be
supported during her pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding
- Develop an assessment
of the different programs, cultures, projects that exist on mother
support, and learn from their successes.
If you would like more information
on the Initiative, please contact Rebecca Magalhães at Rmagalhaes at llli.org.
Following are the actions presented during the session:
A. Media Project
Facilitated by Elaine Dawson
Goal: Promote the value of
mother support through a short video which can be shown at doctor's
offices, hospitals, clinics, schools, etc. Important to involve the
youth, media projects, and universities
Theme: Support available
to mothers and the effect it has on bringing about a successful breastfeeding
experience
Content: The images and text
used need to explain what is meant by mother support. Important to show
how a mother can be supported during pregnancy, labor and breastfeeding.
Include testimonies of ordinary and special situations to which mothers
can relate.
Each community has specific
topics and customs they might want to touch on. It is important for
the video to be sensitive to the local culture. The concept of support
is universal, however it is important to modify it to include the local
customs and traditions.
Funding: If collaborate with
a school or university, they can see it as a tool to educate their students
and might be willing to cover all the expenses.
Future: Post the video on
the internet- WABA, LLLI; distribute it on a CD; broadcast on television,
cable
B. Encouraging Support for Mothers among Health Workers
Facilitated by Dr. Prashant Gangal
In order to create an environment
of support, it is essential to work on all areas of society. This action
was created to reach out to a very important sector -- health workers.
The group formulated a letter
to send out to health workers. Every month for 12 months they will receive
the letter together with a pamphlet (see list of pamphlets below). At
the end of the 12 months a questionnaire will be sent out to evaluate
the effect of this program and to know if the health workers would like
to continue in the program.
Letter:
Dear Dr. _______,
In appreciation of your commitment
to the care and support of the mothers and children in your communities,
we are sending you "Name of article(s)" which emphasizes the
positive influence you have on parenting practices.
This is the first in a series
of articles that will keep you in the forefront of internationally recognized
health care practices in Maternal and Child Health.
To become more involved,
contact: (Name, Phone number, Email)
Sincerely,
_______________
Pamphlets:
12 Basic Information Pamphlets
to Health Workers
(each pamphlet will be single-sided, simple language, with graphs and
photos)
1. Basic Recommendations
on Breastfeeding and Complementary Feeding
2. Graph (pi-diagram) of associations between malnutrition and mortality
and local situations
3. Common problems in early days
4. Inadequate milk transfer
5. Risks of not breastfeeding
6. Ten steps to successful breastfeeding
7. Working mothers / mothers with problems
8. Teen pregnancies
9. Health and support requirements for the mother
10. Importance of health workers in supporting mothers
11. Complementary feeding and exclusive breastfeeding
12. Information on support groups in the area
Page last edited Sun Oct 14 09:34:03 UTC 2007.
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