School of Public Health establishes center for feeding, care of infants, young children

Photograph of Dr. Miriam Labbock

“Breastfeeding is the single most effective intervention for saving the lives of infants and young children around the world,” said Dr. Miriam Labbok, professor of the practice of public health and director of the center in the department of maternal and child health. “It is important that all families know that infants who are breastfed are much less likely to be overweight or to develop cancer, allergies or chronic ear infections later in life.”

The chair and the center, established with an anonymous gift to the School of Public Health, will focus on strengthening policy, practices and programs in breastfeeding, complementary feeding and related maternal reproductive health worldwide through an integrated program of interdisciplinary research, teaching and service.

Attention will be given to areas such as health services, economic assessment, policy support, and emergency settings, as well as to issues such as HIV/AIDS.

Breastfed children have stronger immune systems, fewer respiratory infections and are less likely to die of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), Labbok said. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (USDHHS) Blueprint for Action on Breastfeeding notes that mothers who breastfeed experience rapid recovery after delivery, and reduced risk of certain cancers and other diseases as they grow older, and subsequent research has shown additional positive health outcomes.

Optimal infant and young child feeding consists of breastfeeding soon after delivery and exclusive breastfeeding for six months, with continued breastfeeding and complementary feeding to age 1 or 2 or older. However, rates of exclusive breastfeeding, while increased during the last 10 years in North Carolina, the United States and globally, are well below targets established in USDHHS Healthy People 2010 and by the United Nations Standing Committee on Nutrition.

“The deaths of more than 3,500 children could be prevented every day – if current breastfeeding recommendations were implemented globally,” Labbok said. “With attention to each mother’s needs, and to her family and social support, we can succeed in enabling breastfeeding success – for the health of the mother and child.”

Labbok joined the School’s faculty in January, 2006, leaving her post as the senior adviser for infant and young child feeding and care at UNICEF headquarters in New York. She also has worked for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) as medical officer and chief of maternal health and nutrition, and was tenure track faculty at the Johns Hopkins University and Georgetown University, and adjunct faculty at Tulane University.

The gift establishing the center counts towards the CAROLINA FIRST CAMPAIGN, a comprehensive, multi-year, private fund raising campaign with a goal of $2 billion to support Carolina’s vision of becoming the nation’s leading public university.

Note: Contact Labbok at 919-962-0928 or labbok@email.unc.edu.

For further information please contact Ramona DuBose either by phone at 919-966-7467 or by e-mail at ramona_dubose@unc.edu.