Last July, The Lactation Education, Accreditation and Approval Review Committee (LEAARC), International Lactation Consultant Association® (ILCA®), and International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners® (IBLCE®) hosted a Lactation Summit. The Summit was the first event of a multi-year initiative to explore equity and diversity in the lactation consultant profession.
The 2014 Summit brought together important voices from diverse ethnicities and perspectives to share real-life experiences, obstacles, and challenges of underrepresented groups across the globe. The proceedings served as a Needs Assessment to identify the issues, barriers, and stakeholders involved in equitable access to the lactation consultant profession. The day-long meeting included listening sessions and small workgroup activities to identify barriers and potential strategies for devising an action plan to address inequities that limit access to the profession.
Those proceedings have been summarized in a Summary Report. In the report IBLCE, ILCA, and LEAARC all express profound gratitude to those who “came from around the world speaking in support of the underrepresented voices by courageously sharing their own truths.”
We are sharing the summary of those proceedings with the goal to disseminate the voices who spoke, gather new voices, and listen to new feedback and input. We hope that you will share this document widely with anyone you think can benefit from hearing these perspectives or can add new insights.
Your impressions, feedback, and responses to the Summary Report are welcomed and encouraged. Please share those here. Your feedback will be shared with the Summit Design Team.
As the convening organizations said in a joint statement following the Summit: “This Summit was an important first step, and there is more to hear, to learn, and to do. We are deeply committed to continuing this conversation and dismantling the barriers that prevent access to the IBCLC profession worldwide as we work together for equitable solutions. We call on all of our constituents and partners to join us in this important work.”
Find the Lactation Summit Report here
Find the Lactation Summit Report: Executive Summary here
Please help us spread the word and gather new input by sharing this widely with anyone who may have input or insights to share. Thank you.
I am thrilled that this excellent report is available for the public to review and comment upon.
Two issues are omnipresent in any discussion of skilled lactation care, and peer-level breastfeeding support:
(1) How can we make sure *individuals* are well-trained, competent counselors and clinicians, who stay within their scope of practice?, and
(2) How do we build a system of care, running the gamut from lay-to-specialized, so that ALL families get ALL the help they need, quickly and affordably?
Every single one of us can name individual IBCLCs (MDs, midwives, volunteer counselors, doulas, Other Initial Breastfeeding Helpers etc etc ) who are gems … and those who are flops.
There are *always* outliers.
That is irrelevant when searching for systemic improvement.
What deserves our introspection, open-minded reflection, strategic planning and compassionate concern is considersation of how our Entire System, with its stem cells of institutional racism and structural barriers, is impacting public health. One epidemiologist I greatly respect once suggested that BFg is to public health what the canary is to the coal miner.
Please take the time to read the Report of the 2014 Lactation Summit Addressing Inequities with the Lactation Profession. Print out the Executive Summary and raise the topic when you see your colleagues. Hit the link that takes you to the survey to add your thoughts about what the Summit missed, or got perfectly right.
In many ways, the place to start is by reading the documents linked on page 38 of the Summary Report.
I would like to read the executive summary but the link doesn’t work. Can you help?
Thanks for checking in! We’re still in the process of fixing broken links on the blog. You can find the report you are seeking here: http://www.ilca.org/about/values-vision-mission/equity
I’ll also correct the post now. Please let us know if we can help with anything else.