All About HMBANA
Tuesday, 6/28/2016
Milk banking is an international practice, with mothers all over the world donating their milk to babies in need. With 25 milk banks in North America and several more developing, it takes a lot of coordination to guarantee practices are consistent. The Human Milk Banking Association of North America (HMBANA) was established in 1985 as a professional association for supporters of milk banking and as a governing organization for member milk banks.
HMBANA’s mission is “reaching the most vulnerable infants first,” striving to provide safe, pasteurized human donor milk to medically fragile babies. The organization sets guidelines for milk banks to make this possible and performs inspections to ensure that these guidelines are being met.
Having a parent organization such as HMBANA allows for quality communication among American and Canadian milk banks. Milk banking professionals are able to network during a biennial conference, in addition to working with HMBANA year-round.
While much of what HMBANA does relates directly to its member milk banks, the organization also works to promote and support breastfeeding for mothers and babies. Additionally, it advocates for the use of donor human milk and acts as a liaison between member milk banks and governmental regulatory agencies.
“HMBANA acts as a centralized base of knowledge, regulations, and information sharing for member milk banks,” Mary Michael Kelley, Interim Executive Director of HMBANA, said. “We work hard to create a system of inclusivity for our milk banks to ensure they are up to date on the latest information in milk banking, to provide a networking platform, and sustain the future of milk banking through public relations, legislative advocacy, and research.”
HMBANA serves an important purpose in the mission to get donor human milk to babies in need. For more information on our governing organization, click here.
For more information on Mothers’ Milk Bank of North Texas, click here.
