As food and goods become more expensive, some infant feeding options are increasingly difficult for families to afford. Inflation, the pandemic, infant formula shortages, and supply chain issues create added formidable challenges. The costs of formula are considerable for families, for the health care system, and for the environment, yet breastfeeding is not routinely a part of food security conversations.
The purpose of this presentation is to clearly understand the issues of food security in the context of breastfeeding, the risks and expenses of not breastfeeding, and discuss measures to help increase food security.
People suffering from hunger has slowly been increasing since 2014, and worsening still with the pandemic (FAO et al., 2020). For infants, growth failure can start before birth. Suboptimal growth may start or continue because of breastfeeding or formula feeding practices as well as inadequate complementary foods. Those who can least afford infant formula, tend to be those more likely use it (Kopp et al., 2023). To understand the nature of the issue, we examine food security in the context of breastfeeding globally and with data from select countries. We will explore the impacts of suboptimal or no breastfeeding, list measures to improve breastfeeding rates, and thereby improve food security for infants and their families.
Learning Objectives:
1. Define food security, the current context of food security, and how breastfeeding is an inherent part of food security discussions
2. Explain 2 examples of potential implications of not breastfeeding
3. List 3 ways to support food security
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