Feed make friends with BPAS and NAT

Our blog post outlining what the APPGIFI forgot to mention got quite a bit of attention, especially the point we made outlinging the UNICEF UK guidelines recommending against the direct provision of infant formula to formula fed babies in food poverty.

UNICEF guidelines prohibit formula distribution from many food banks

While the [APPGIFI report] makes six mentions of food banks and uses figures obtained from the Trussell Trust on food poverty and insecurity, there is no mention or discussion of the fact that UNICEF guidance prohibits the distribution of infant formula from many UK food banks.…… When families are struggling so severely that they are turning to food banks to survive, denying them the resources to feed their babies and failing to acknowledge this within a document that is supposed to address this, written by a group set up to champion ‘Infant Feeding and Inequality’ is shocking.

The British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) and the National AIDS Trust (NAT) were both taken aback to learn about the UNICEF UK guidelines and contacted us independently of each other asking to meet so we could discuss the impact of this further. So, we got on the Caledonian Sleeper train (it felt like we were off to Hogwarts!) and we headed to London to meet.

We met with both BPAS and NAT individually, and we made plans to come together as a trio to collaborate on our campaign to maximise access to infant formula for families who need it. A fantastic collaboration was formed that day and we are absolutely honoured to work alongside BPAS and NAT, and to have their support for our organisation.