Premature babies across Queensland will get live-saving access to breast milk, with a new Australian Government-funded milk bank opening in Brisbane to supply donor human milk to hospitals across the state.
\nMinister for Health, Greg Hunt, said human milk was proven to lead to better health outcomes for premature and sick babies who couldn\u2019t breastfeed.
\n\u201cWithout breast milk, premature babies spend longer in hospital and are at greater risk of infection and sepsis,\u201d Minister Hunt said.
\n\u201cThey are also at great risk of contracting necrotising enterocolitis, a disease that has a tragically high mortality rate.
\n\u201cHuman milk banks collect, screen, process, and distribute donated human milk as a better alternative to infant formula for premature babies. It is estimated that the demand for human donor milk for premature babies is around 7,600 litres per year across the country.\u201d
\nAs part of the 2019\u201320 Budget, the Australian Government provided $2.0 million to Lifeblood to expand its coordinated network of donor human milk banks.
\nFederal Member for Brisbane, Trevor Evans, welcomed the opening of the milk bank and Australian Red Cross Lifeblood\u2019s commitment to Queensland infants.
\n\u201cLifeblood \u2013 in collaboration with the Queensland Milk Bank \u2013 has established the facility six months ahead of schedule,\u201d Mr Evans said.
\n\u201cBabies across a network of 19 Queensland hospitals are already receiving life giving human milk that is protecting their wellbeing.
\n\u201cBut that is only one part of the important work of the milk bank. The new Brisbane facility will also allow our leading scientists to undertake innovative research into new therapeutic applications using the bioactive compounds in milk.
\n\u201cThis work will develop new products to help premature and sick babies thrive.\u201d
\nLifeblood now supplies pasteurised donor human milk to 30 hospitals across four states. With funding provided by the Australian Government, Lifeblood is on track to deliver the goal that \u2013 within the next 18 months \u2013 all premature babies in Australian Neonatal Intensive Care Units requiring donor human milk have access.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Premature babies across Queensland will get live-saving access to breast milk, with a new Australian Government-funded milk bank opening in Brisbane to supply donor human milk to hospitals across the state. Minister for Health, Greg Hunt, said human milk was proven to lead to better health outcomes for premature and sick babies who couldn\u2019t breastfeed. … Continue reading “New milk bank ensures the best start for premature babies in Queensland”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aussie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13142"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13142\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}