Racial Disparities in Breastfeeding Conference Being Held May 3

UC Health News

"Building Bridges Toward Equity” is the theme of the second annual Conference to Eliminate Racial Disparities in Breastfeeding and Infant Mortality, scheduled for Wednesday, May 3, 2017. The conference will be held at the University of Cincinnati (UC) Tangeman University Center (TUC) from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m."Breastfeeding provides infants with the best possible start in life,” says Julie Ware, MD, a pediatrician at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center in the Center for Breastfeeding Medicine and co-chair of the conference. "Although the initiation of breastfeeding is now nearing the Healthy People 2020 goals of 81.9 percent in the U.S., there remains a large disparity in breastfeeding among African-American women.”In Cincinnati, differences in breastfeeding across demographics are profound, according to Ware, with 75 percent of white mothers initiating breastfeeding compared to 50 percent of black mothers. She also says neighborhood differences in initiation of breastfeeding are as high as 55 percent."Health disparities, such as infant mortality, can be ameliorated when babies are breastfed,” says Ware. "Breastfeeding is now described as a public health imperative. We have to do all we can to support all women to breastfeed their babies.”Last year’s inaugural event attracted over 160 health care professionals and sold out quickly. To accommodate an anticipated larger crowd this year, the conference has moved to the MainStreet Cinema, atrium and break out rooms at TUC."The interest from last year indicates that many health care providers in our community are aware that we have disparities in breastfeeding practices and infant mortality rates, and they desire to address these disparities,” says Laurie Nommsen-Rivers, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Nutritional Sciences in the College of Allied Health Sciences and co-chair of the conference. "This conference will unpack concepts such as bias in access to breastfeeding encouragement, culturally-tailored breastfeeding support, high-quality clinical care and other barriers that stand in the way of African-American ...

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