Haiti Emergency Relief Milk Program Update–Red Cross Advises Against Breast Milk Donations

Earlier this month, as all of the different information on relief efforts and how people could lend a helping hand to the people of Haiti after the devastating earthquake that has left millions of people dead, homeless and in desperate need of resources, we published a post on how nursing mothers could donate breast milk to Haiti to benefit Haitian babies in need of a food source.

Information on how to donate your breast milk to babies in need in Haiti came to light after a press release was put out by the Human Milk Banking Association of North America. The International Breast Milk Project soon after launched the Haiti Emergency Relief Milk Program, who said that they would be helping to cover hosts for the Human Milk Banking Association of North America to collect, process and ship breast milk that had been donated to Haiti. While the International Breast Milk Project does have several updates on their website from up to January 28th reporting that donated breast milk has arrived in Port-au-Prince and awaiting pick up, the Red Cross has recently released a statement saying that they are 100% sure that they did not ask for breast milk donations and have asked women to stop sending it.

The Emergency Nutrition Network and the Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance have asked the Human Milk Banking Association of North America to retract their press release, saying that breast milk donations to Haiti present an “unfeasible and unsafe intervention.” In fact, milk that had arrived in Port-au-Prince as part of the International Breast Milk Project’s efforts, has remained unused because of concerns raised by the Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance and other agencies. It has also been stated that nursing mothers donating breast milk with the intentions of it being sent to Haiti, while done with the best intentions of helping to provide emergency relief, has stemmed from quite a bit of confusion when the milk banking group, as well as several associations, bloggers and heavy-hitting media released information saying that their milk was in great need, while it turns out that there never was a need for donated milk.

Across the board, every major relief organization agrees that the best way to help Haiti’s struggles at this time, as well as the best way to help any relief efforts, is to donate money so that non-profit organizations and others helping to aid Haiti are able to continue their efforts. If you are interested in donating money to the relief efforts in Haiti, check out our list of worthwhile charities working towards relief in Haiti.

If you are a nursing mother and would like to donate breast milk to help babies in need in the United States, the International Breast Milk Project has stated that they, along with the Human Milk Banking Association of North America does collect milk to help critically ill babies in neonatal intensive care units, as well as babies that cannot tolerate formula. You can contact the Human Milk Banking Association of North America on their website or by calling 1-866-998-4550 for further information and the donation process.

Woman Tribune has been reporting on the relief efforts, current conditions, ways to donate and how people around the world are uniting to help Haiti in a time of serious and desperate need. We will continue reporting as information becomes available, so please consider following our reporting on Haiti to stay up to date on what is happening there.