Marcelino Vélez Hospital breastfeeding closed its program for World Breastfeeding Week with a training workshop directed at health collaborators, in a day focused on reinforcing attention to mothers and newborns. The activity took place in Santo Domingo Este and is part of institutional efforts to promote safe and sustainable infant feeding practices.
The center reported that the closing day included updating for its staff, a measure that takes on relevance because breastfeeding requires technical accompaniment from pregnancy, birth, and the first days of life. In that context, Marcelino Vélez Hospital breastfeeding does not limit itself to a symbolic campaign, but to training those who sustain daily clinical attention.
World Breastfeeding Week is celebrated every year from August 1 to 7, with the support of international organizations such as the WHO and UNICEF. The commemoration seeks to create awareness about the importance of breastfeeding and strengthen support services for mothers, families, and health workers.
Marcelino Vélez Hospital breastfeeding in the regional context
In the Dominican Republic, breastfeeding promotion is also linked to the existence of human milk banks. According to the Dominican Milk League, there are two donation points in the country: the Josefina Cohen Human Milk Bank, at the Nuestra Señora de la Altagracia Maternity, and the Breast Milk Bank of the Marcelino Vélez Santana Hospital.
This reality places the center among the country’s hospital references in this matter. Staff training is key because international evidence supports that exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months provides nutritional and immunological benefits, and then it must be maintained complemented with other foods until two years or more.
Training, support, and clinical practice
Hospital workshops usually include basic clinical management, counseling, techniques for grasping, extracting, and conserving milk, as well as guidance on family support. In the case of Marcelino Vélez Hospital breastfeeding, the emphasis on internal training suggests a strategy aimed at improving the response of the staff to lactating mothers and vulnerable babies.
This type of initiative also responds to a persistent challenge: breastfeeding still faces labor, social, and health barriers. Therefore, health centers that train their teams reinforce not only immediate attention, but also the continuity of care.
- Key date: August 1 to 7.
- Focus: training of health personnel.
- Relevance: breastfeeding promotion and hospital support.
With this day, Marcelino Vélez Hospital breastfeeding reaffirms its role in promoting maternal and infant health and in training its team to provide more effective attention to mothers and newborns. In a country where milk banks are limited, Marcelino Vélez Hospital breastfeeding once again takes center stage in the health conversation.
