The World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean held a regional workshop for university staff to promote good breastfeeding practices as part of the IMCI community component in Rabat, Morocco, from 8 to 9 July 2007.
The objectives of the workshop were to:
- discuss approaches to breastfeeding promotion with representatives of universities from the Eastern Mediterranean Region, namely Egypt, Islamic Republic of Iran, Jordan, Morocco, Oman, occupied Palestinian territory, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, Tunisia and Yemen
- agree on the role of university staff in breastfeeding promotion
- develop plans for the contribution of university staff to breastfeeding promotion at regional and country levels.
Breastfeeding is an evidence-based science that is at the core of child health and development. It is a cost-effective intervention not only to save children’s lives and reduce morbidity, but also to promote child health and development. University staff are opinion-leaders and a highly-respected group in the community who can influence policies and practices. The IMCI strategy has created excellent opportunities in countries to bring together Ministry of Health and teaching staff and help create coordinating structures for collaborative efforts. The IMCI pre-service training initiative has offered a good opportunity to strengthen also the teaching of breastfeeding. Many teaching hospitals lack effective policies on breastfeeding and implementation of optimal feeding practices, which represent an unsupportive environment for teaching breastfeeding.