Title: Breastfeeding Committee
Author:
Section/SPIG: Maternal and Child Health
Issue Date:
Members of the Breastfeeding Committee have been working at the national and community level for the past year on the National Breastfeeding Awareness Campaign (NBAC), launched in June 2004 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office on Women’s Health. This is the first national public health campaign on breastfeeding since 1911, and uses a risk-based approach to educating the public on health consequences of not breastfeeding.
The Ad Council created the Campaign’s public service announcements in English and Spanish, and the Campaign has received a total of $14,956,800 in donated media since June 2004, with PSAs appearing in the TV, radio, print, out-of-home, and interactive media. NBAC has rated highly compared with other Ad Council campaigns, placing fourth in public relations revenues out of all of the Ad Council's sponsored projects in the third quarter of 2004. The Campaign will continue through 2005.
ABC’s 20/20 ran a news story about the Campaign on the launch date, and the TV segment recently won a 2005 “Gracie Award” from the American Women in Radio & Television. The ‘Gracies’ recognize quality programming “created for women, by women and about women” in the electronic media. The award was presented on June 22, 2005.
In other news, the Breastfeeding Committee will have two sessions at this year’s APHA Annual Meeting: Session 3119.0, on Monday, Nov. 7, and Session 5057.0, on Wednesday, Nov. 9, as well as a poster session (4272.0: Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2005: 4:30 p.m.-5:30 p.m.). Breastfeeding related presentations will also appear in the following sessions: 4273.0: Improving Access to Maternity Health Services; 3053.1: Current issues in Health Education and Health Promotion; 3111.0: Emerging HIV/AIDS Issues for Discussion and Debate. Breastfeeding is one of six priority areas for the MCH Section. For more information, contact Committee co-chairs Lindsay MacAuley and Anne Merewood.