Infant feeding in emergencies: global recommendations and considerations for their adaptation in middle and high-income countries.

Alessandro Iellamo is the senior emergency nutrition adviser for Family Health International 360 (Fhi360) supporting and a maternal, infant, and young child nutrition specialist. He has extensive expertise in nutrition and infant and young child feeding (IYCF) policies and practices, particularly in emergencies, the WHO International Code, BFHI, the Operational Guidance for Infant and Young Child Feeding in Emergencies and other global tools. He has worked with the WHO’s Scientific and Technical Advisory Group (STAG) on the International Code and assisted the International Baby Food Action Network with the development of the World Breastfeeding Trends Initiative (WBTI) and the World Breastfeeding Costing Tool (WBCi) and IYCF policy tools. He has also been involved in research on maternal, IYCF policies, practices, and programmes, including work environments, International Code implementation, and financial aspects of the WHO/UNICEF Global Strategy on IYCF. His expertise in nutrition, emergency nutrition, and IYCF has supported humanitarian work in Africa, the Middle East and South Asia and South-East Asia. He has led the development of recent IYCF-E tools and guidance documents and facilitated international and national policies and guidance development processes. Recently, he has been engaged with IYCF related policy issues in high-income countries including Ukraine, Poland, Italy, Australia, and Japan. Alessandro has led the planning, organization and facilitation of webinars and workshops, including the independent dialogue hosted by the Institute for Climate, Energy & Disaster Solutions and the ANU Gender Institute at the Australian National University. At the same time has provide support for the development of the Mother’s Milk Tool and the ongoing development of the Green Feeding Tool.

President of the Human Milk Bank Foundation and head of the Laboratory for Research on Human Milk and Lactation at the Regional Milk Bank at the St. Family Specialized Hospital in Warsaw and the Faculty of Health Sciences at the Warsaw Medical University. Head of the project entitled "Support and promotion of exclusive breastfeeding and appropriate feeding practices for infants and young children of Ukrainian and Polish mothers in Poland in a crisis situation" commissioned by the United Nations Children's Fund UNICEF. Scientifically, she deals with issues related to the dependence of milk composition on diet and environmental factors, methods of preserving breast milk. She also addresses topics arising from societal needs such as milk banks, safety of vaccinations during lactation, risk of COVID-19 maternal infection, and child nutrition in emergencies.