European Foundation for Care of Newborn Infants (EFCNI) announces today the launch of its policy recommendations “Making Human Milk Matter - The need for regulation in the European Union”, which you can find attached and online at www.efcni.org/human-milk-regulation
These recommendations were developed independently by the EFCNI working group.
They aim to clarify for European decision-makers the importance of doing everything possible to ensure that premature children receive breast milk. Thus, when breast milk is not available, donated breast milk is the second best recommended nutritional choice for premature infants, sick infants and low birth weight infants.
However, human milk banks remain unregulated in most countries of the European Union outside of France and Italy, resulting in legal uncertainty, a lack of quality and safety standards and limited access to breast milk donation in many European countries.
To solve this problem, the EFCNI calls on European policy makers to take action to provide the best care, including breast milk-based nutrition, which must be seen as a European public health issue and a human right for all these vulnerable infants.
Prof. Jean-Charles PICAUD
Chairman of the French Human Milk bank association (Association des lactariums de France, ADLF)
23/11/2020
Download : EFCNI_MakingHumanMilkMatter_PolicyRecommendations