Infant and Young Feeding in Emergency

Planning and supporting adequate, safe nutrition for infants and young children in emergencies has so far been neglected in many economically developed countries, including Poland. However, there is a strategy for proper child nutrition in such circumstances developed by a team of international experts known as the Operational Guidelines for Infant and Young Child Feeding in Emergencies.

Every emergency highlights existing shortcomings in a particular area. The past COVID -19 pandemic and the refugee crisis resulting from the war in Ukraine particularly affected women and children, and thus posed new challenges to Poland’s perinatal and lactation care system

In response to the refugee crisis related to the war in Ukraine, especially the mass movement of pregnant women and mothers with young children from war-torn areas to Poland, the Human Milk Bank Foundation has launched a project entitled “Supporting Mothers in Appropriate Feeding of Children in Crisis (the full title of the project is Supporting and Promoting Exclusive Breastfeeding and Appropriate Feeding Practices for Infants and Young Children of Ukrainian and Polish Mothers in Poland in Crisis) on behalf of the United Nations Children’s Fund UNICEF.

The project aims to support mothers in deep lactation crisis caused by war trauma or other emergencies. In particular, it focuses on raising the level of care for a woman in perinatal crisis and expanding services in hospitals.