Women Deliver

The 2019 Women Deliver Conference was held in Vancouver in June, with more than 8,000 people from 165+ countries attending – including heads of states, parliamentarians, academics, advocates and journalists.

The global conference is held every three years and aims to coalesce political commitment and financial investment to fulfil Millennium Development Goal 5—reducing maternal mortality and achieving universal access to reproductive health.

SafelyFed Canada participated in a number of sessions and brought attention to key guidance documents including the Infant Feeding in Emergencies Operations Guidance 3.0. A number of the plenary and concurrent sessions are available online. As result of WD2019, an entire issue of the Humanitarian Exchange Magazine focused on best practices for addressing the needs of girls and women in emergencies.

Jodine Chase (far left) participates with advocates in a Canada/US exchange of ideas to preserve access to reproductive health services in the current political climate.

Green Feeding

Climate change is accelerating the speed and severity of adverse weather events and other natural disasters, disproportionately impacting rural Indigenous communities as well as families experiencing food and income insecurity.

Canadian expert, Penny Van Esterik, has worked with IBFAN GIFA in Europe to produce a package of “Green Feeding” resources for advocates and policymakers. Click here to access them.

ILCA IYCF-E Network Meeting

For the last three years SafelyFed Canada has helped to coordinate a network meeting of those working or interested in Infant and Young Child Feeding in Emergencies at the annual International Lactation Consultants Association conference.

This year a specific goal of the meeting was to bring to ILCA’s attention the need to update its position paper. ILCA’s president Mudiwah Kadeshe has indicated ILCA intends to update the paper and will be reaching out to the primary authors, Cathy Carothers and Karleen Gribble, for guidance.

Where you’ll find us

Oct 1-3 National BFI Symposium Yellowknife, NWT

Oct 25-27 CLCA Conference Richmond, BC

Oct 25-27 Let’s Talk About Sex: Sister Song Conference Atlanta, GA

Nov 11-16 World Breastfeeding Congress Rio de Janiero, Brazil