Brasília – Brazil has the largest network of human milk banks in the world, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). This experience, acquired over 21 years of public policies on the subject, will be shared with nine Latin American countries.

The Minister of Health, Humberto Costa, signed Thursday (19) the Letter of Brasilia, a document that formalizes the commitment to develop a milk bank network based on the Brazilian model, and integrated by Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala, Uruguay and Venezuela

"Our intention is to expand and qualify these human milk banks and, thus, with this policy, be able to significantly reduce children mortality in the Americas," summarized the Minister.

Governments that signed the Letter also committed to developing joint researches about children nutrition. They also agreed on establishing a permanent information exchange system and to train people in the area.

According to the Director of the Department of Strategic Planning of the Ministry of Health, Tereza Campos, each country will define the project's implementation schedule. "The letter is a commitment of the countries to fulfill this plan. We will then, keep contact and decide how implementation will be done in each country," explains.

The agreement was signed during the II International Congress of Milk Banks, occurring in Brasilia until Saturday (21).

Translation: Andréa Alves