I don`t want to go into politics but things do look awful from this side of
the border too.
The supplies being sent into Gaza from Israel during the occasional lull in
the fighting are mostly consisting of fuel and food staples.
Before the disengagement from Gaza when all Israeli civilians left there we
had trained childbirth educators and lactation counsellors working there and
I believe the breastfeeding culture was well established.
A few years ago I was representing the Israel Childbirth Education Centre at
a conference of public health professionals run by by the Israeli Ministry
of Health in Jerusalem. I had a poster session and a public health manager
from Gaza approached me about helping him set up a programme for education
in pregnancy and breastfeeding promotion.
I was very excited about this and ready to go to Gaza to meet him when the
situation got more explosive than usual, the barrage of rockets into Israel
escalated and he called me to cancel the visit and our plans.
Margaret Mead wrote: "Never underestimate the strength and efforts of
organized groups of women," but women can feel very powerless in these
situations where families are wounded and homes are destroyed.
In Israel all the volunteer organizations have been sending aid to our towns
and villages in range of Gaza and families have been invited into the homes
of those living further north - a reverse of the situation in 2006 when we
in the north were being bombarded from Lebanon.
Let us hope for a peaceful weekend and a tangible permanent solution that
will allow us all to turn guns into ploughshares.
Wendy Blumfield
Israel Childbirth Education Centre
----- Original Message -----
From: "Magda Sachs" <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, January 09, 2009 8:27 AM
Subject: Don't send milk to Gaza
> http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/d6925c54a7ac23295645fead5e3784
> 2c.htm
> In Brief: Don't send milk to Gaza - nutritionists 08 Jan 2009 16:19:20 GMT
> Source: IRIN
> Reuters and AlertNet are not responsible for the content of this article
> or for any external internet sites. The views expressed are the author's
> alone.
> NAIROBI, 8 January 2009 (IRIN) - If you are concerned for the health and
> well-being of children in Gaza, "Do not send donations of infant formula,
> bottles or milk products to Gaza", say top emergency nutritionists.
> A leading group of nutrition experts, including the World Health
> Organization, UN Children's Fund and NGOs, in a media brief published in
> English, Arabic and Spanish, state that the "indiscriminate use of infant
> formula in an emergency is extremely dangerous to babies, causing illness
> and death".
> The Infant and Young Child Feeding in Emergencies group's paper,
> highlighted this week on the leading Emergency Nutrition website, asks
> journalists not to publicise aid agency appeals for milk and formula,
> plainly stating: "There is no need for donations of infant formula,
> powdered milk or baby bottles to be sent to the site of an emergency."
> Magda Sachs
> Registered Breastfeeding Supporter
> The Breastfeeding Network, UK
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