St George and Sutherland Child and Family Health Service has received a Community Baby Friendly Health Initiative (BFHI) accreditation.
The teams from St George and Sutherland Hospitals applied as a joint project to ensure that women in the community are provided with ongoing, effective support to breast feed following the birth of their baby.
The service is the first community team in NSW and second in Australia to get the accreditation.
BFHI is a global program sponsored by the World Health Organisation and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and aims to encourage health care services to promote breastfeeding.
In the community setting services are required to demonstrate that they have implemented the seven steps to successful breastfeeding to be granted accreditation.
BFHI was successfully introduced into Australia in 1993.
The teams at St George and Sutherland Hospitals have been working towards the accreditation for more than 12 months.
