HHS Blueprint for Action on Breastfeeding

[Hamish Ferguson]

apologies, can someone send me the unsubscription details please.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Kuester, Sarah" <sak2 at cdc.gov>
To: "Public Health Nutrition Discussion and Information Group"
<phnutr-l at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, November 01, 2000 3:53 AM
Subject: HHS Blueprint for Action on Breastfeeding



> Please pardon the cross-posting.

>

> Hello.  Below is a press release by the Office

> of the Surgeon General announcing the availability

> of the "HHS Blueprint for Action on Breastfeeding,"

> a national framework to promote breastfeeding and

> optimal breastfeeding practices.  For additional

> information on breastfeeding see the new CDC

> website at http://www.cdc.gov/breastfeeding/.

>

> Thank you,

> Sarah Kuester

> Public Health Nutritionist

> Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

> sak2 at cdc.gov

> ------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Source: http://www.4women.gov/breastfeeding/press.htm

>

> Office of the Surgeon General

> News Release

> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Carol Krause, (202)

> 205-2551

> Monday, October 30, 2000 Office on Women's Health

>

> SURGEON GENERAL RELEASES FIRST COMPREHENSIVE

> FRAMEWORK TO INCREASE BREASTFEEDING RATES AND

> PROMOTE OPTIMAL BREASTFEEDING PRACTICES

>

> Washington, October 30, 2000 - Recognizing the considerable

> scientific evidence that states breastfeeding is one of the most

> important contributors to infant health, the Office of the U.S.

> Surgeon General today released the first comprehensive national

> framework to promote breastfeeding and optimal breastfeeding

> practices. The HHS Blueprint for Action on Breastfeeding was

> developed by health and scientific experts from 14 federal agencies

> and 23 health care professional organizations, including the

> American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of

> Family Physicians.

>

> During the past 15 years, the Office of the Surgeon General has

> highlighted the public health importance of breastfeeding through

> numerous workshops and publications. Scientific evidence

> suggests that breastfeeding provides a range of benefits for an

> infant's growth, immunity and development. In addition,

> breastfeeding has also been shown to improve maternal health.

>

> The Blueprint for Action released today promotes a plan for

> breastfeeding based on education, training, awareness, support

> and research. Specifically, the plan lays out a framework based on

> the recommendation that infants be exclusively breastfed during the

> first four to six months of life, preferably for a full six months. The

> plan also suggests that, ideally, breastfeeding should continue

> through the first year of life.

>

> Despite the many benefits of breastfeeding, statistics reveal that 64

> percent of American mothers breastfeed in the early postpartum

> period, with only 29 percent still breastfeeding six months after birth.

> Racial and ethnic disparities in breastfeeding are wide, revealing

> extremely low rates among African-American women. In 1998, 45

> percent of African-American mothers breastfed their infants in the

> early postpartum period; 66 percent of Hispanic mothers and 68

> percent of white mothers breastfed. Only 19 percent of

> African-American mothers were still breastfeeding at six months,

> compared to 28 percent of Hispanic mothers and 31 percent of

> white mothers. That same year, 54 percent of low-income Asian

> and Pacific Islander children and 59 percent of American Indian and

> Alaska Native children were ever breastfed.

>

> "Low breastfeeding rates documented in the Blueprint for Action

> are a serious public health challenge, particularly in certain minority

> communities," said David Satcher, M.D., U.S. Surgeon General

> and Assistant Secretary for Health. "With scientific evidence

> indicating that breastfeeding can play an important role in an

> infant's health, the time has come for us to work together to promote

> optimal breastfeeding practices. Each of us, at all levels of the

> public and private sectors, must now turn these recommendations

> into programs that best suit the needs of our own communities."

>

> Healthy People 2010, the nation's health agenda for the next

> decade, has set an objective to increase the proportion of all

> mothers who breastfeed in the early postpartum period to 75

> percent. "The Healthy People objectives will be realized only when

> we work together to put in place culturally appropriate strategies to

> promote breastfeeding, with particular emphasis on education and

> support from health care professionals, employers and family

> members, especially fathers and grandmothers," said Wanda

> Jones, Dr.P.H., Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health (Women's

> Health) and director of the Office on Women's Health.

>

> The Blueprint offers action steps for the health care system,

> families, the community, researchers and the workplace, to better

> focus attention on the importance of breastfeeding. It recommends

> that health care professionals who provide maternal and child care

> are trained on the basics of lactation and breastfeeding counseling;

> that women who return to work after childbirth should have access

> to childcare facilities or private rooms on-site to accommodate

> breastfeeding; that social support and information resources be

> established for women such as hotlines and peer counseling; and

> that research be conducted on issues surrounding breastfeeding.

>

> Scientific evidence states that human milk contains an abundance

> of factors that are active against infection. Breastfed infants,

> compared with formula-fed infants, produce enhanced immune

> responses to polio, tetanus, diptheria, and common respiratory

> infections. Recent research also suggests that breastfeeding

> reduces the risk of chronic diseases among children, including

> diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, allergies and asthma, and

> childhood cancer.

>

> Mothers also benefit from breastfeeding, including less postpartum

> bleeding, earlier return to pre-pregnancy weight, a possible

> reduced risk of ovarian cancer and premenopausal breast cancer,

> and positive hormonal, physical and psychosocial effects. The

> Blueprint recommends that mothers with certain conditions,

> including Hepatitis C, substance abuse problems, some

> environmental exposures, metabolic disorders and breast implants

> should check with their doctor before breastfeeding. Women with

> HIV/AIDS and human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) should

> not breastfeed.

>

> The Blueprint was developed by the Subcommittee on

> Breastfeeding, under the auspices of the HHS Environmental

> Health Policy Committee, including members of the Federal

> Interagency Working Group on Women's Health and the

> Environment, coordinated by the Office on Women's Health.

>

> The full text of the HHS Blueprint for Action on Breastfeeding can

> be found on a new specialty section on breastfeeding on the Web

> site of the National Women's Health Information Center

> (www.4woman.gov) or through its toll-free telephone service at

> 1-800-994WOMAN (TDD: 1-888-220-5446). For a brief look at

> some of the many programs and services currently promoting and

> supporting breastfeeding within health care, work sites, and

> communities nationwide, visit the Web site developed by the

> Division of Nutrition and Physical Activity, Centers for Disease

> Control and Prevention at http://www.cdc.gov/breastfeeding.

>

>                                                      ###

>

> Agencies that collaborated to develop HHS Blueprint for Action

> on Breastfeeding include the Administration for Children and

> Families, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Agency

> for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, Centers for Disease

> Control and Prevention, Environmental Protection Agency,

> Food and Drug Administration, Health Resources and Services

> Administration, Indian Health Service, National Institutes of Health,

> Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office of HIV/AIDS

> Policy, Office of Planning and Evaluation, the U.S. Department of

> Agriculture and the U.S. Agency for International Development.

> >From the private sector; American Academy of Family Physicians,

> American Academy of Pediatrics, American Association of

> Health Plans, American College of Nurse-Midwives, American

> Hospital Association, American College of Obstetricians and

> Gynecologists, American Nurses Association, Black Women's

> Health project, Morgan State University, National Black Nurses

> Association, National Conference of State Legislatures, National

> Medical Association, Washington Business Group on Health,

> Washington state Department of Health, the United States

> Breastfeeding Committee, and the University of Rochester

> School of Medicine.

>

>

>

>