Evelyne Ruf is a family physician from France, and an International Board Lactation Consultant (since 1993). More than 25 years ago, she shifted to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), working for the Ministry of Health, in Sharjah MCH Center. She opened there the first Lactation Clinic in the UAE, with the support of volunteers from Breastfeeding Friends (BFF), which she had co-founded.
Five years ago, the Lactation Clinic has been shifted to the Family Health Promotion Center, where it continues to offer, to a very cosmopolitan population, skilled lactation support as well as assessment and release of tethered oral tissues.
A member of the National Breastfeeding Committee, Evelyne has been involved in the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative as a lecturer, trainer, adviser and assessor. Her workplace became the first Baby-Friendly Health Center in the UAE and received the IBCLC Care Award (community category) in 2015.
She has also been actively involved in the Sharjah Baby-Friendly Emirate Campaign, a multi-sectorial initiative launched in 2012, and presented its achievements during Gold Lactation 4 years ago.
With her husband of 34 years, she is the proud and grateful mother of 5 grown-up breastfed children and the grandmother of 4 breastfed little ones.
Despite the recommendations and various initiatives to promote breastfeeding, most women don’t reach the exclusive breastfeeding target in both developed and developing countries. Similar has been the case in the United Arab Emirates.
Therefore based on the decree by the ruler of the Emirate of Sharjah, UAE, a multi-sectorial, multi-directional breastfeeding campaign-the Sharjah Baby-Friendly Campaign- was launched in March 2012. It consisted of 4 initiatives namely Baby-Friendly Health Facility, Mother-Friendly Workplace, Breastfeeding-Friendly Nursery and Mother-Baby Friendly Public Place. Once an organization met the criteria for any of these initiatives it was awarded the designation or accreditation of that initiative.
The campaign initiatives worked through capacity building of healthcare workers, developed breastfeeding education content and resources, and conducted community outreach through social media.
The positive impact of the campaign on breastfeeding promotion, protection and support is evident by the tripled exclusive breastfeeding rate at 6 months over a 5 years period.
“Hello, the Lactation clinic? Here is a nurse from Primary Health Care; we have a mother engorged in the hotel, can you help her?”…
After taking some time to understand this strange call, we embarked on a totally unexpected journey: trying to support 25 Covid-19 positive asymptomatic mothers, most of them isolated without their newborn. This happened between April and June 2020, in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, as a consequence of the initial USCDC recommendations.
This presentation describes the intense practical, clinical and emotional support needed by these mothers to cope with their traumatizing situation, but also the silver lining of their resilience, the amazing power of peer support, and a new cooperation between health care providers from different facilities, and with lay supporters.
Further insight is provided by some research done in the UAE: an observational study from a hospital who has followed WHO recommendations, and a cross-sectional study among mothers from the community.
Lessons should be taken from the past, to prevent the repetition of decisions based on a distorted balance of benefit/risk, affecting so many families and their care providers globally.
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