Toolkit is comprehensive resource; includes HHS business case for employer support of breastfeeding
THURSDAY, March 26, 2015 (HealthDay News) — A new breastfeeding toolkit is available, which includes the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) business case for why employers should support breastfeeding, according to a report published by the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP).
To bolster its policy on breastfeeding, the AAFP has created a breastfeeding resource and toolkit. The toolkit includes the breastfeeding position paper, released in November, and offers office- and community-based tools, advocacy resources, evidence-based knowledge, and educational materials that family physicians can share with their patients. In addition, the HHS business case for breastfeeding is included in the toolkit, which makes the case for why employers should support breastfeeding.
Community-based resources include culturally specific tools, such as those relevant for African-American and Hispanic populations. Additional resources also include a telephone triage protocol to help family physicians troubleshoot breastfeeding difficulties; a breastfeeding and billing resource; and an AAFP “Breastfeeding is welcome here” poster.
The HHS business case for breastfeeding “provides economic reasons for why businesses should support breastfeeding employees,” Jennifer Frost, M.D., medical director for the AAFP Health of the Public and Science Division, said in a statement. “We know that there is discrimination in the workplace against breastfeeding women. Businesses need to understand that supporting breastfeeding can actually be cost-saving.”
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