Please note this event will be recorded.
Audio recording and PowerPoints are available in the ‘downloads’ tab.
The Zoom invitation is available here.

In times of health crisis and emergency, the implementation of the WHO/UNICEF Global Strategy for Infant and Young Child Feeding is more important than ever, but is hindered by lack of priority for investment in breastfeeding policies and plans nationally. During the COVID-19 pandemic, according to UN experts women and girls are suffering egregious violations of their human rights. Defunding or reducing health services and programs which are crucial to protecting women’s reproductive rights and health worsens the inequitable COVID-19 impacts on women.

Despite authoritative health guidance emphasising that breastfeeding should be encouraged and supported, the human rights of women and children are being violated through proliferation of maternity care barriers to breastfeeding, including separation of newborns from mothers, and preventing initiation of breastfeeding.

Our online workshop program aims to galvanise efforts to improve breastfeeding policies and funding in national budgets, by applying gender budgeting and World Breastfeeding Trends initiative (WBTi) tools to Australian policy. Our webinars on 20 April and 4 May took a global perspective on emergency and pandemic preparedness and response planning, in the Australian context.

The forthcoming webinar on Monday, 18 May carries forward themes from the Introductory Webinar on 6 April on ‘Gender Responsive Budgeting and Progressing Breastfeeding Policy in 2020 and Beyond’, with a focus on addressing the invisibility of women in budget policymaking. Experts in gender budgeting, the unpaid household economy, gender politics and policy and breastfeeding will focus on the links between data and dollars for addressing gender inequity in fiscal policy.

The program including the Zoom log on is included in the ‘downloads’ tab above.

Details for the next event on 29 June 2020 in this series is available here.

We acknowledge and thank the The Gender Institute, ANU for funding. We also appreciate the support of Save the Children UK, and the World Breastfeeding Trends Initiative, Breastfeeding Promotion Network Of India.