Health and Nutrition Care Systems – in support of breastfeeding and Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF). This indicator assesses if health workers that care for breastfeeding mothers and infants have adequate education and skills to support infant and young child feeding.
Australia’s score in 2023 remained the same as the previous 2018 assessment (2.5/10).
The Australian National Breastfeeding Strategy (COAG, 2019) notes the need “to increase the proportion of health professionals who receive adequate, evidence-based breastfeeding education and training that is free of commercial influence.”
In addition, the Strategy’s Action Area 2.2 prioritises:
- Provision of, and support for, access to education and training in breastfeeding for all health professionals who care for women and children. The strategy lists options including the use of core curriculum, a skills matrix and national competency standards.
- Support for development of clinical care tools for primary healthcare services by developing evidence-based guidelines and clinical care tools for health professionals caring for women and children.
Midwives are required in their course accreditation standards to facilitate breastfeeding at birth and in the postnatal period in accordance with BFHI best-practice principles. The National Midwifery Practice Standards (NMBA, 2018) no longer mention a requirement for midwives to undertake ‘promotion, protection and support of breastfeeding’, but instead obliquely refer to their responsibility to provide safe, quality midwifery health care using the best available evidence and resources. Trainee pediatricians and obstetricians are required in their respective curriculum documents to receive education about lactation physiology and basic management of breastfeeding problems.
Australia does not require any other health professionals to receive breastfeeding education prior to registration and there is no system of consistent professional development for those who are in practice. Instead teaching and training is provided on an ad hoc basis. Neither are health care workers required to be educated about the WHO Code or the standards for mother-friendly childbirth care in maternity facilities.
New developments to tighten the regulation of marketing of breastmilk substitutes in Australia and reflect the WHO Code must include requirements for all health professionals to understand their responsibilities under the WHO Code.
Improving educational preparation and clinical standards that prioritise developing the skills of health professionals to support infant and young child feeding will require ongoing advocacy through the national health professional registration authority and respective colleges.
World Breastfeeding Trends initiative Australia 
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