BRAZIL: Milk bank supporting infants and mothers expands through UniSalesiano
State-of-the-art equipment improves quality of services
BRAZIL
(MissionNewswire) UniSalesiano, the Salesian University in Araçatuba, Brazil, through its Faculty of Medicine, expanded its Human Milk Bank and purchased state-of-the-art equipment for its new headquarters to significantly improve the quality of the services offered for infants in need.
The milk bank is a service that collects, screens, processes and distributes human milk from donors for infants. The service is connected to the Global Network of Milk Banks, which guarantees high standards of quality control and specialized training. The recipients of the donated milk are babies who are premature or underweight and admitted to the neonatal intensive care wards. There is also support provided for new breastfeeding mothers.
The new facility, the result of a collaboration among UniSalesiano, the Municipality of Araçatuba and the Rotary Club – District 4470, offers significant progress in accessibility, quality of outpatient care, visibility and organization of the workflow.
Jesiela Passarini, coordinator for the Human Milk Bank, stressed the importance of the changes. “Today we reached the top for the Araçatuba Human Milk Bank. In 18 years of activity, we have accumulated successes such as the expansion of the team from three to 10 professionals, the acquisition of modern equipment and the creation of a breastfeeding clinic.”
The Human Milk Bank in Araçatuba serves the women of the municipality free of charge. According to the data collected, in the last eight years the volume of milk collected has grown by 367%, from 3,100 to 14,474 liters, while the number of donors has increased by 460%, from 1,714 to 9,600. Home visits also increased significantly, from 6,263 to 21,144, with an increase of 237%.
UniSalesiano was instrumental in the construction of the new headquarters. During the inauguration of the new facility, Father Paulo Vendrame, rector, said, “This is a project that takes care of life that begins. We are very happy to participate in this project and we wish the Human Milk Bank every success.”
Just over 15% of Brazilians live in poverty, with the majority living in the rural northeast of the country, according to the World Bank. While Brazil is making positive changes, there are still large gaps between the poor and the rich, and issues of income inequality and social exclusion remain at the root of poverty.
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Sources:
Photo courtesy of UniSalesiano
Salesian Missions – Brazil
World Bank – Brazil
