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Wellstart International is a nonprofit organization
with (501) (C) (3) tax deductable status. It was launched originally as the San
Diego Lactation Program (SDLP) in 1979-1980. Initially the SDLP was within the
Department of Community and Family Medicine of the University of California San
Diego Medical School and was a component of the perinatal services and teaching
of the University of California San Diego Medical Center. In 1983 with funding
from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) SDLP added
an international faculty education and development program, The Lactation
Management Education Program (LMEP). The program design included bringing
multidisciplinary, leadership level teams of health care providers (OB,
Pediatricians, Family Practitioners, Nurses, Nurse Midwives and Nutritionists)
from teaching hospitals from several countries together for 3 weeks of lactation
management education and skill development and 1 week of planning a program that
they would undertake upon returning home. A follow-up visit was provided to
their home site at the invitation of the team sometime after their program was
underway. The conversion of the SDLP to an independent nonprofit organization,
Wellstart International, and a move to a nearby but separate location occurred
in 1985.
A primary objective of LMEP was to create a “cascade” of skilled and
knowledgeable leaders in medical, nursing and nutrition education that could
make needed changes in their curriculum as well as the services provided to
mothers and babies that would promote successful breastfeeding. The program was
considered quite successful and in the 15 years of continuation, 655 health care
providers from 55 countries (including the United States) became Wellstart
Associates. A follow-up study of 40 of these Associates undertaken at the
request of UNICEF in 2003 suggested that the program through the cascade of
training approach, had changed the care given to mother-baby pairs in hundreds
of hospitals, modified curriculum in a significant number of professional
training programs, contributed to hundreds of thousands of secondary training
events and contributed to the global expertise regarding lactation management.
Since 1985, Wellstart, as an organization or through staff participation has
also been very active and influential in many global events related to the
protection, promotion and support of optimal infant and young child feeding.
These include the development of the “Ten Steps”, Innocenti Declaration of 1990
and 2005, WABA and World Breastfeeding Week, The Baby Friendly Hospital
Initiative, The United States Breastfeeding Committee and the development of the
Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine.
Since the conversion of the SDLP to Wellstart International in 1985, the
organization has maintained an office in California but has had additional
offices in Washington DC, and Cairo, Egypt. At the present time administrative
tasks are carried out in California and programmatic activities are planned and
coordinated in Vermont |
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About
Wellstart International...
