August 02, 2010
Dr. Miriam Labbok

Dr. Miriam Labbok

Miriam Labbok, MD, MPH, Professor of the Practice of maternal and child health and director of the Carolina Global Breastfeeding Institute at UNC’s Gillings School of Global Public Health, will speak to the Shelby Co. (Tenn.) Breastfeeding Coalition and Memphis Area Lactation Consultants Association in celebration of World Breastfeeding Week, Aug. 1-7. Labbok, a world renowned expert in prevention, infant nutrition and women’s health, will present “Breastfeeding Update 2010: Prevention at Its Finest” on Aug. 4 at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital in Memphis.

The international theme chosen for World Breastfeeding Week this year is “Breastfeeding: Just 10 Steps – The Baby-Friendly Way.” The ten steps, which describe ways to educate and support mothers to breastfeed, will be highlighted in Labbok’s talk.

 
“A recently released Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report showed that Tennessee hospitals rank 40th in the U.S. in maternity practices known to support breastfeeding,” said Julie Ware, MD, chair of the Shelby County Breastfeeding Coalition.
 
Shelby County, where Memphis is located, has one of the highest rates of infant mortality and obesity. “It also has one of the lowest rates of breastfeeding in the country,” Ware says. “Many people do not realize that breastfeeding is an intervention that has a beneficial effect on both of these conditions, as well as many other short- and long-term benefits for the baby, mother and community. We have much to learn from Dr. Labbok.”
Ware quoted First Lady Michelle Obama as saying,”Babies that are breastfed are less likely to be obese as children, but 40 percent of African-American babies are never breastfed at all, not even during the first weeks of their lives.”
 
In Shelby County, Ware said, “our numbers are even worse, with only 38 percent of our African-American mothers even intending to breastfeed.”
 
“Optimal breastfeeding is essential for child survival, growth and development, and maternal reproductive health and survival,” Labbok said. “Breastfeeding is a single intervention that results in improved neurological, physiological, and immunological development, and significantly reduces infant morbidity and mortality.”

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UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health contact: Ramona DuBose, director of communications, (919) 966-7467 or ramona_dubose@unc.edu.

 

 

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