Public Health Nursing Service

Primary Care Public Health Nursing Service

Roles of a Public Health Nurse "Breastfeeding: An Outdated Practice or an Updated Trend?" What is your view on breastfeeding? When you hear the word 'breastfeeding', what will you associate it with? Will it be embarrassment, inconvenience, unrealistic and outdated practice, or greatness, love, warmth, right and nature's gift? People have different views on breastfeeding and this is also true among health care professionals. Some may think that it is neither scientific nor practical, especially in modern metropolitan cities like Hong Kong where most mothers have to work. Moreover, breastfeeding is not receiving the right amount of attention it deserves, as it is not emphasized in the medical or nursing curricula. And yet, many people all over the world are enthusiastically advocating breastfeeding! In Hong Kong, for more than 20 years, the Family Health Service (FHS) of the Department of Health (DH) has been playing an active role in promoting breastfeeding. In recent years, there are also a number of non-government organizations (NGOs) making continuous effort and giving support to advocate breastfeeding. Most of them are volunteers coming from various sectors with diverse cultural, social and occupational backgrounds. As a public health nurse and a qualified Lactation Consultant (LC) in the FHS of the DH, I would like very much to share with you my views and experience of how nurses may contribute to promoting maternal and child health via the promotion of breastfeeding in the FHS.

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