Breastfeeding Center accepted for USBC membership
November 07, 2007 | |
The UNC School of Public Health’s Center for Infant and Young Child Feeding and Care has been accepted for membership in the United States Breastfeeding Committee (USBC). The mission of USBC is to protect, promote and support breastfeeding as the feeding norm for young children. The group comprises more than 40 government agencies and non-governmental and health professional organizations. The Center, based in the School’s Department of Maternal and Child Health, is the first USBC member to be selected from a school of public health. Miriam Labbok, MD, MPH, director of the Center, was among the founders of USBC in the mid-1990s. She has watched it grow into a dynamic organization whose members work collaboratively and are chosen for membership on the basis of outstanding national impact in support of breastfeeding. “[Center faculty member] Mary Rose Tully and I have represented various professional organizations over the years,” Labbok said. “We are familiar with the important work of USBC, especially in its interactions with U.S. government entities and its new effort to support state coalitions. It is an honor for the Center to be named as a member in its own right and a special kudo for the School to be the home of the first school-of-public-health-generated member.” Labbok previously held executive positions with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). She became the first director of the Center in 2006.
More information about USBC is available at http://www.usbreastfeeding.org. School of Public Health contact: Ramona DuBose, director of communications, (919) 966-7467 or ramona_dubose@unc.edu. |
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