WBTi is happening!!

In September 2017 a group of passionate advocates, health professionals, academics and NGO representatives gathered together for a “Gender Responsive Budgeting and Breastfeeding” workshop at the Australian National University. They were joined by Dr. Shoba Suri from IBFAN Asia and BPNI, who presented the World Breastfeeding Trends initiative assessment tool information.

There was much enthusiasm and concern as to why this assessment has been carried out in 84 countries but not yet in Australia, and from there a core group was formed. This core group has undertaken the task of assessing Australia’s policies and programs in infant feeding.

The tool is made up of 15 indicators in total.

Each indicator has a score of 10, meaning the country ends up with a score out of 150.

You can have a closer look at each indicator here.

The results are then uploaded into a web-based toolkit, and a report card generated. You can have a look at the global rankings and each country’s individual scores for each indicator here.

The aim is to have Australia’s report completed by April 2018 and launch our report in World Breastfeeding Week, August 2018.

Stay tuned!!

Naomi Hull RN, IBCLC, MPH (Nutrition)

Naomi is a mum to 2 busy teenagers. She is an RN and IBCLC from Brisbane and has been a volunteer Breastfeeding Counselor with ABA since 2006. Naomi also recently attained a Masters of Public Health (Nutrition) at the University of Queensland.

During her Masters of Public Health, her interest in the ‘bigger picture’ grew stronger and for this reason chose to look at the implementation of the Australian National Breastfeeding Strategy (2010-2015) as the topic of her Dissertation. Naomi continues to feel strongly about finding a way to improve the breastfeeding experience for families by way of affecting policy change in Australia. She is excited to be a part of the team for the #wbtiAus assessment.