Take Ten Steps Up for Breastfeeding
Join the GBC during World Breastfeeding Week to learn about the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding.
Imagine if every baby was born in a place where the best practices for supporting breastfeeding are the norms. The Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding are evidence-based practices that improve breastfeeding rates by establishing benchmarks for quality care for new mothers and infants in maternity services.
Join the Global Breastfeeding Collective during World Breastfeeding Week to learn about the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding, find tools and resources to help adopt them in health systems, and be inspired by stories about the Ten Steps in action. Together, we can ensure every baby starts right in life by scaling up and providing universal quality of care in a baby-friendly environment.
During each session, you will:
- Hear from experts on resources you can use to implement the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding.
- Learn from donors about why we need to invest in the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding.
- Get inspired by national and regional leaders’ experiences using the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding.
Speakers include:
(Africa, Europe, and the Asia Pacific)
Moderator: Elise Chapin, Technical Officer, Programma Insieme per l’Allattamento Area Advocacy, Comitato Italiano per l'UNICEF
Francesco Branca MD PhD, Director – Department of Nutrition and Food Safety, World Health Organization
Lawrence Grummer-Strawn MSc PhD, Unit Head – Nutrition and Food Safety Actions in Health Systems, World Health Organization
Alison Tumilowicz, Senior Program Officer, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Dr. Kiran Pandey, former Head of Department Gynaecology & Obstetrics, Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi Medical College, Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh, India)
Dr. Y.K. Rao, Head of Department, Pediatrics, Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi Medical College, Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh, India)
Anne Woods, Deputy Programme Director, Baby Friendly Initiative (UK)
Elieth D Rumanyika, Nutritionist, Ministry of Health, United Republic of Tanzania
(The Americas)
Moderator: Grainne Moloney, Senior Advisor, Early Childhood Nutrition, Nutrition and Child Development, Programme Group, UNICEF
Victor Aguayo, Director of Nutrition and Child Development, UNICEF
Lawrence Grummer-Strawn MSc PhD, Unit Head – Nutrition and Food Safety Actions in Health Systems, World Health Organization
Alison Tumilowicz, Senior Program Officer, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Dr Carmen Lucas, Health and Nutrition Officer, UNICEF (Bolivia)
Mariana Colmenares-Castaño, MD, IBCLC, Asociacion de Consultores en Lactancia Materna de México (ACCLAM) (Mexico)
Lt Col Jeanette Anderson, MSN, RN, RNC-OB, U.S. Air Force (United States)
Speaker Biographies
(Africa, Europe, and the Asia Pacific)
Alison Tumilowicz
Alison Tumilowicz is a Senior Program Officer on the Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (MNCH) team at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation which she joined in 2019. Within the MNCH team she focuses on maternal, infant, and young child nutrition investments aimed at answering questions of how implementation can be improved so that interventions can have greater impact at scale. Before joining the foundation, Alison spent six years with the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) directing multi-national teams to generate and translate evidence into programmatic and policy decisions. Prior to GAIN, Alison worked as a country manager and technical advisor with the Food and Nutrition Technical Assistance Project / FHI 360 in Guatemala, Mozambique and Washington, DC. She is a Registered Dietitian and holds a Ph.D. in international nutrition from Cornell University and MPH from the University of California at Berkeley.
Laurence M. Grummer-Strawn
Laurence Grummer-Strawn is the unit head of the Food and Nutrition Actions in Health Systems unit at the World Health Organization. He coordinates WHO work on infant and young child nutrition, treatment of acute malnutrition, and prevention of micronutrient deficiencies. Until December 2014, he served as chief of the Nutrition Branch at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Having earned his PhD from Princeton University, he worked at CDC for over 23 years, in the areas of Reproductive Health and Nutrition. He is an epidemiologist who has published over 180 scientific publications. He is recognized internationally for his work on vitamin and mineral deficiencies, breastfeeding policy, and development of both the CDC and the WHO Growth Charts. He leads the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative, the Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes, and the Global Breastfeeding Collective.
Elieth D Rumanyika
She is Nutritionist, holding a Master’s Degree in Human Nutrition, working at the Ministry of Health, United Republic of Tanzania. She is an expert in Child Health and Nutrition, Maternal Nutrition, Programming and implementation of maternal and child nutrition intervention and stakeholder engagements to inform policy processes and maximize national development. She is passionate in improving child nutrition in the health system.
She has worked with different organization and projects based on Maternal and Child Nutrition as well as in the planning and Implementation on raising public awareness concerning Child health and nutrition through different platforms.
Anne Woods
Anne Woods is the Deputy Programme Director of the UNICEF UK Baby Friendly Initiative. She is responsible for managing the assessment process for midwifery, neonatal, health visiting and children’s centre services and has worked with the UK team to progress the Baby Friendly programme in the UK over many years, including implementing a staged approach to the external assessment process, introducing additional standards related to enhancing parental responsiveness and relationship building and most recently to enable services to fully embed and progress the work so that it is sustainable in the longer term. Anne also works as a lead assessor and facilitator of the various courses that Baby Friendly provides. With a background in midwifery spanning more than 30 years, Anne has a wealth of experience in all aspects of midwifery, including as an infant feeding coordinator and supervisor. Anne also holds the role of Vice Chair of the International Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative Network.
Dr. Yashwant Rao
Dr. Yashwant Kumar Rao has extensive experience as a pediatrician, health care management, and public health specialist. Currently, he is heading the Department of Pediatrics in Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi Memorial Medical College (GSVM) , Kanpur since April 2013. In 2021, he has been appointed as Proctor, GSVM Medical College, Kanpur. He had served as Vice- Principal of GSVM Medical College, Kanpur, earlier. He has been a strong advocate for Infant Young Child Feeding Practices in the country and has facilitated multiple batches of breastfeeding and Complementary feeding (IYCF) training for faculties, doctors and staff nurses in medical colleges and health facilities in the state. He was one of the principal investigators for Indian Council of Medical Research in the Assessment of iodine status among pregnant women in India and an assessment of Consumption pattern of food and food products high in fat, salt and sugar among selected cities/towns and rural population of India. He has led groundbreaking work during COVID Pandemic as a Nodal Officer for COVID training of medical and para medical staff. He is currently responsible for a research project as a principal investigator for Indian Council of Medical Research in the 'Optimizing the use of antibiotic for uncomplicated SAM management at community level'.
Francesco Branca
Dr Francesco Branca is the Director of the Department of Nutrition for Health and Development in the World Health Organization, Geneva. During his tenure, WHO has established a new nutrition guideline development process and has developed a Comprehensive Implementation Plan on Maternal, Infant and Young Child Nutrition with six global targets. He has been leading the preparation of the 2nd International Conference on Nutrition.
He has been a Senior Scientist at the Italian Food and Nutrition research Institute where he was leading studies on the effects of food and nutrients on human health at the different stages of the life cycle and on the impact of public health nutrition programmes. He has been President of the Federation of the European Nutrition Societies in 2003-2007.
Dr. Branca graduated in Medicine and Surgery and specialized in Diabetology and Metabolic Diseases at the Universita' Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Roma and obtained a PhD in Nutrition at Aberdeen University.
(The Americas)
Dr. Carmen Lucas Castillo
Dr. Carmen Lucas Castillo (Bolivia), holds a Master in Public Health (Chile), with a diploma in Breastfeeding (Peru) and HIV/AIDS (Mexico). She has more than 30 years of experience, including serving in positions of Community Health Officer, HIV-AIDS Officer, Health and Nutrition Officer at UNICEF, as well as Consultant for the IDB and District Director of Health at the Ministry of Health. She provides technical assistance in the definition and implementation of Health, Nutrition and HIV/AIDS policies and strategies to the Ministry of Health, the nine Health regions of the country, Health Networks and Municipalities. She promotes health and nutrition initiatives including BFHI. She works in health, education, protection, water and sanitation in the Guarani and Amazonian areas of Bolivia, strengthening the indigenous peoples, especially women.
Lt Col Jeanette Anderson
Lieutenant Colonel Jeanette Anderson is a Perinatal Clinical Nurse Specialist serving in the United States Air Force. Currently, she is the Director of Clinical Investigations at the 88th Medical Group, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio where she oversees clinical research and Evidence-based Practice (EBP) implementation/sustainment. She has served as the Air Force Surgeon General’s Perinatal Nursing Consultant and now is serving as the EBP Consultant. She has also chaired the Defense Health Agency’s Women and Infant Clinical Community’s Clinical Nurse Specialist Working Group, and currently advises the 88th Medical Group’s EBP Council. Throughout her career she has led multiple EBP initiatives and has had several articles accepted for publication. This work includes efforts in the following areas: maternal peanut ball use as a labor positioning aid; maternal opioid administration post-cesarean delivery; newborn bathing; newborn ankyloglossia identification/management; and newborn nutrition.
Dr. Mariana Colmenares Castano
Dr. Castano is a doctor with a specialization in pediatrics and breastfeeding medicine. She has more than 14 years of experience in community child’s health with high standards in professional and humanistic attention. Experienced in counseling, education and training health care professional and expertise in clinical investigation. Special interest and experience with breastfeeding support and tongue-tie release, with more than 400 releases at the clinic in the last 5 years. She has great interest and experience in developmental pediatrics and feeding. Dr. Castano is a strong leader committed to a number of national and international projects and collaborates locally with the National Public Health Institute and UNICEF in Mexico.
PLUS: Two more reasons to step up
Join the MAMI Global Network and the Infant Feeding in Emergencies (IFE) Core Group to learn how you can step up to save lives:
Enhanced Lactation Support for Small and Nutritionally At Risk infants <6mo: Learn more about the MAMI Care Pathway
Speaker: Nicki Connell (Senior Technical Associate, Emergency Nutrition Network (ENN))
10 Years of Progress: Protecting the Diets of Infants and Young Children in Emergencies
Speaker: Jodine Chase (IFE Core Group Facilitator)
Ten Steps Resources
Take action now! Add your voice to #EndExploitativeMarketing
NGOs, Civil society, trade unions, academia, professional bodies, communications, technology, early childhood development, health or nutrition-related sector:
Are you a part of an organization that advocates for breastfeeding in your country or region? Consider becoming an associate of the Global Breastfeeding Collective.
MAMI and IFE Core Group Resources
For the webinar recording “Two More Reasons to Step Up” of the presentations from the MAMI Global Network and the IFE Core Group, please click here.
For the report released during the webinar, ”Infant and Young Child Feeding in Emergencies Ten Years of Progress” please click here.
A product of the Infant Feeding in Emergencies (IFE) Core Group, developed by Save the Children with input of members of an Advisor Group, this report represents the first stock take to highlight Member State adoption of measures to maximize protecting infant and young child feeding in emergencies in line with World Health Assembly Resolution 63.23.