Newborn Nutrition - Media Page
Return to the Increasing Access and Intake of Human Milk page.
Strengthening Systems to Ensure All Infants Have Access to Human Milk
To ensure that all infants have access to life-saving human milk, systems are being strengthened to incorporate human milk banking into newborn and nutrition care. PATH uses the Mother and Baby Friendly Initiative Plus, where the Plus is the human milk bank, combining breastfeeding promotion, provision of donor human milk if needed, and kangaroo mother care to support infant development.
A Virtual Tour of the Da Nang Human Milk Bank
Click here to take a virtual tour of the Da Nang Human Milk Bank
The first human milk bank in Vietnam was officially opened on February 17, 2017, at the Danang Hospital for Women and Children. This facility is supported by the Vietnam Ministry of Health and the Danang Provincial Department of Health, and is the first human milk bank in Vietnam to be operated within the public health system and to international standards.
Now that the human milk bank is operational, PATH will focus on advocating for national level policy for the further promotion of the importance for all infants to receive human milk and the scale up of human milk banking throughout Vietnam and the region.
PATH’s goal is to ensure that all children have the best nutrition for a healthy start in life—through their own mother’s breast milk or, when that’s not possible, with safe donated breast milk. With smart investments to promote and support research and development in human milk banking and effective global coordinating mechanisms, we can save lives and protect our most precious and vulnerable babies.