NHS HIGHLAND: Unicef helps people in Highlands as well as abroad
Some international organisations have been having a hard time recently. When there are entrenched views and conflicts it can be hard to be focused simply on the welfare of people without being seen to take sides.
There may be questions of money too and the US decision to withdraw from the World Health Organisation (WHO) will make its work much more of a challenge. Yet there continues to be life-changing work undertaken such as the polio vaccination programme in Gaza where the WHO is working to control and prevent a disease which has been eradicated across most of the world.
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Closer to home we will hear less of bodies linked with the United Nations, but they still play a part in our health and wellbeing.
Supporting the wellbeing of children and young people is important both on its own terms and for our future. The incorporation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child into Scottish law will help to foster a culture where children feel loved, safe, respected and can reach their full potential.
Children’s health and wellbeing can be greatly helped by good nutrition, and this can also set people up for the rest of their lives. This too has a connection with the United Nations through its children’s agency Unicef.
Unicef works across the world to support children amid war and natural disasters but works locally too. The Unicef Baby Friendly award supports good nutrition and wider care for babies in the UK. I was delighted to be present recently when the Highland Health Visitors received their Unicef Gold Award, and this adds to similar awards held by local NHS services. The award celebrates excellent and sustained practice in the support of infant feeding and relationships between infants and parents.
The Unicef programme supports breast feeding and it also supports formula feeding as well as supporting ways for parents to develop close and loving relationships with their newborn. There has been great work in the local area to support parents and their babies and to provide a firm foundation of feeding and nutrition for the future.
It is good to see the work of international organisations at home as well as abroad, supporting people in different circumstances. We can play our own part too in encouraging the work. We may choose to support the international work, but we can also support the work here by encouraging and celebrating good infant feeding practice and giving space and opportunity for breast feeding. That can be one local step for a positive future.
Dr Tim Allison is NHS Highland’s director of public health and policy.
