Public health groups and individuals honored for public service
April 12, 2012 | |
Projects to support breastfeeding at hospitals in North Carolina, HIV-positive youth in Uganda, and the participation of Latino men in reproductive health were among those honored March 28 at an annual awards ceremony conducted by the Carolina Center for Public Service.
The Carolina Global Breastfeeding Institute (CGBI), based within the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, received the Robert E. Bryan Public Service Award for its Breastfeeding-Friendly Healthcare initiative and for its student group, Carolina Birth and Breastfeeding: Evidence Based Education and Support (BEBES). Other public health students received additional awards. “We are certainly honored to receive the Bryan award,” said Herbert Peterson, MD, Kenan Distinguished professor and chair of the School’s Department of Maternal and Child Health where CGBI resides. “The department, including the Carolina Global Breastfeeding Institute, has considered community outreach and service to be a core part of our mission from the beginning.” CGBI’s Breastfeeding-Friendly Healthcare initiative supports nine North Carolina hospitals that seek to implement the “Ten steps to successful breastfeeding,” a series of evidence-based best practices to support breastfeeding. Provider training is a key element of the project. Hospitals who achieve all ten steps are designated “Baby-Friendly” hospitals by Baby-Friendly® USA, the nonprofit organization that implements the program in the United States. The global Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative is sponsored by UNICEF and the World Health Organization. The N.C. Women’s Hospital recently earned its Baby-Friendly® distinction with the help of CGBI. “The Baby-Friendly® designation reinforces our commitment to our mothers and their babies,” said Gary Park, president of UNC Hospitals, in a UNC Health Care news release. Miriam Labbok, MD, professor of the practice of public health, directs the Carolina Global Breastfeeding Institute. “Dr. Labbok, along with Emily Taylor as director of the Baby-Friendly Health Care project and our dedicated students through Carolina BEBES, has done a wonderful job of reaching across the community and across campus to further the quality of care for birth and breastfeeding,” Peterson said. Carolina BEBES provides opportunities for interested students to learn more about breastfeeding and advocate for supportive breastfeeding practices locally and globally. Other UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health students also were recognized:
“The students, faculty, staff and University units being honored with these awards exemplify Carolina’s commitment to service and engagement across North Carolina and far beyond,” said Lynn Blanchard, PhD, director of the Carolina Center for Public Service. “Their efforts demonstrate the interconnectedness of the University’s three-part mission of teaching, research and service. We are pleased to have such outstanding examples of public service and engaged scholarship to celebrate at UNC.”
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