Other content tagged: milk donors
Reviewing best practices for human milk banks: Urgent need for international milk bank guidelines
As the number of human milk banks grows globally, the lack of international standards becomes increasingly apparent. Donated human milk is provided to the most vulnerable sick and preterm infants in order to reduce their mortality. However, this comes with a responsibility to ensure the safe and hygienic handling of milk. A systematic review analysed the best practices for each step of the milk donation process using eight country guidelines and three organisation guidelines.…
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Maintaining human milk bank services throughout the COVID-19 pandemic
Human Milk Bank (HMB) services have been impacted by the global COVID-19 pandemic. To better understand the impact, a Virtual Communication Network (VCN) was formed to collect data and experiences from HMBs across 35 countries. Every year approx. 800,000 infants receive donor human milk (DHM) worldwide. However, seven pandemic-related vulnerabilities to HMB service provision were identified. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends donor human milk from milk banks (HMB) as the next best…
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