The International Lactation Consultant Association (ILCA) and the United States Lactation Consultant Association (USLCA) stand firmly in support of the World Health Organization (WHO) and their critical work helping “mothers and children survive and thrive,” particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The care plans and policies that are established during COVID-19 for the care of new families are essential to the wellbeing of parents and babies, now and throughout the life course of the family.
ILCA and USLCA offer deep appreciation and support for WHO’s significant efforts to provide evidence-based research, guidance, and support to individuals, organizations, and countries to guide those decisions.
Their guidelines provide much needed support for keeping breastfeeding and chestfeeding parents and infants together, and offer recommendations to safely breastfeed; they also provide information on protecting milk production and providing human milk to babies if there is separation.
This role is critical across the entire globe, as breastfeeding and chestfeeding is demonstrated to save lives, reduce burdens on the health care system, and increase food security now and into the future. These protections for families — which are felt regardless of the economic development status of the country — are critical now more than ever. WHO’s work in supporting these aims is indispensable.
ILCA and USLCA strongly urge the United States, and all countries, to continue their funding to the World Health Organization, especially at this critical time.
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Endorsements
Organizations
Adelante Network
Anna Sumner, Australia
Athena Lactation, LLC
The Baby’s Voice
BPNI Maharashtra, India
California Advanced Lactation Institute, USA
Cheryl Patel, RN, LNC, IBCLC
Chinese Lactation Consultant Association (CLCA), Taiwan
Christine’s Care & Compassion, USA
Colorado Breastfeeding Coalition, USA
Early Dawn Doula and Lactation Services, USA
Egyptian Ministry of Health and Population, Egypt
ELACTA, Austria
ELCA, Egypt
Every Mother, Inc., USA
Galactablog, Ireland
Hanen Association for Breastfeeding Promotion, Tunisia
Janette Brooke, Australia
Joy MacTavish, IBCLC / Sound Beginnings LLC, USA
Kawartha Birth and Lactation, Canada
KellyMom.com
La Leche League USA
Lactation Consultant At Home, LLC
Lactation Consultants of Great Britain, UK
Latch In Color
Lisa Staggs, BSN, RN, IBCLC
Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford, USA
The Milk Collective, USA
The Milky Mermaid LLC, USA
The Milky Way LLCA, USA
Mina Ognjanovic Jasovic IBCLC
Mom & Baby by Gaby Uribe, Mexico
Mother’s Own Milk Matters, USA
NHS, UK
Nurturing Traditions, LLC
Pretty Mama Breastfeeding LLC
Sarah Wydner RN, IBCLC, USA
Senecca Kirkhart, CPNP, IBCLC, USA
Somerset West Community Health Centre, Canada
St Georges University Foundations Trust, UK
Successful Breastfeeding LLC
Terra Nova Midwifery, Canada
Westchester Lactation Consultants
Women’s and Children’s Health Network, Australia
Your Baby Butler, USA
Zdravo Bebe-Centar za majki, Macedonia
Individuals
Khansa Abd Halim, Malaysia
Michelle Angelini, Canada
Jasna Apostolski-Nikolov IBCLC, Macedonia
Magdalena Arciszewska, Canada
Eya Belkhir, Tunisia
Andrea Blanco, USA
Kelly Bonyata
Janette Brooke, Australia
Elizabeth Brooks JD IBCLC FILCA, USA
Decalie Brown, Australia
Anna Cannon, UK
Colleen Carney, USA
Tiziana Catanzani, Italy
Rebecca Costello, IBCLC, MPH, USA
Paulina Erices, USA
Pauline Garcia, USA
April Grady, USA
Michele Griswold, USA
Margaret Haines, USA
Trish Islam, UK
Jessica Jolley, USA
Molly Jonas, USA
Nut. Karen, Mexico
Charnise Littles
Bonnie Logsdon
Suzanne Mackinnon IBCLC, Canada
Sonia Mathisson
Josefa Martinez, USA
Karen Cecilia Mejía Espinoza, Mexico
Jocelyn Milanes
Nor Kamariah Mohamad Alwi, Malaysia
Daniela Nicolin, Italy
Amanda Nutkins, UK
Aunchalee Palmquist, USA
Inge Sofia Pena, USA
Lauren Pitts, USA
Chelesa Presley, USA
Milagro Raffo, Peru
Amanda Russell, USA
Dawn Russell, USA
Leah Segura, USA
Eve Schein, USA
Kati Smith, USA
Christine Staricka, USA
Anna Summer, Australia
Lynn Tauss, USA
Cecilia Tomori, USA
Shu-Fang Wang, Taiwan
Natalie Ward, USA
Allyson Wessells, USA
Jorhdyn White
Kelly Yanuri
The European Lactation Consultants Alliance ELACTA fully endorses the statement of ILCA and USLCA about supporting the WHO.
The European Lactation Consultants Alliance ELACTA fully endorses the statement of ILCA and USLCA to support the WHO!
Completely ignored is the fact that the WHO has been heavily politicized and perhaps overly influenced by Beijing. Worse, the organization has already made a number of missteps in dealing with the pandemic. Intentionally or not, it has misled the public from the get-go.
A National Review article forthrightly accuses the Chinese Communist Party of suborning and corrupting the WHO, “… which, for political reasons, ignored credible warnings about the new coronavirus from doctors in Taiwan and instead credulously repeated statistics from authorities in Beijing, the ones downplaying the extent of the crisis.”
WHO also “delayed calling the virus a health emergency and then criticized U.S. travel restrictions placed on China, without reference to public-health reasoning, only to vague ideology.” Meanwhile, at home, the Chinese Communist Party was silencing whistleblowers in Wuhan who tried to warn about the dangerous new virus.
Truthful, objective information is the standard we are held to as consultants. China needs to be held responsible for not only the mishap (If it was a mishap) but for not protecting its people and the rest of the world. The WHO should not accept the additional monies given to them by China it should be making China financially assist every country affected by the pandemic. I BELIEVE THATS CALLED LIABILITY.