I have been reading the posts on this topic with interest.

If you are standing next to the woman, of course you respond as best you can
immediately.  However, the next priority should be to insititute proceedures
that ensure that next time it is not *again* treated as a
'one-off' and you/the worker has to respond as best she can, but that there is a
clear agreed way the agency will handle the situation.

There have been posts with specific info for the US situation with regard to
hooking up to the systems, e.g. WIC, already available.

Baby Milk Action had a paper some years ago, and which I discover is about to
come
out in a new format, "Infant Feeding In Emergency Situations".  I remember the
paper (lets not get on the subject of my files -- that thread has died away!)
being very useful and certainly one you could send to a local branch of an
organisation of the Red Cross, etc, if they solicit for formula donations.

As Heather points out, each of us as a health worker (whether paid or voluntary)
has specific obligations laid out in the WHO Code and subsequent WHA
regulations.  IBFAN publish a booklet, which is regularly revised "A Health
Workers' Guide to The Code".

Also, remember, the Code is actually the WHO/*UNICEF* Code.  UNICEF are an
organisation set up to work for the rights and welfare of all children, but, as
I understand it, their existence and ethos were informed by the needs of
children in refugee situations.  Thus, if they felt the need to commit their
resources to the Code, we should tread carefully lest we inadvertently or
vertently (as it were) undermine the goals they are working toward.

Magda Sachs
Area Contact, Baby Milk Action
Breastfeeding Supporter, Breastfeeding Network, UK