President
Malaysian Breastfeeding Peer Counsellor Association (MBfPCA), Perak, Malaysia
Nadrah Arfizah Arifin (MBBS, MPH) is a medical professional in public health and a lactation consultant who is based in Malaysia. Her involvement in breastfeeding advocacy started in 2007 as a local breastfeeding supporter at her workplace. Subsequently, she has been working voluntarily with a community-based breastfeeding support group, the Malaysian Breastfeeding Peer Counsellor Association (MBfPCA) since 2010. She is currently the President of MBfPCA since 2016. Together with other core trainers, they work on sustainability of breastfeeding support by peer counsellors for the Malaysian community in an effort to knit a breastfeeding support network between healthcare professionals and IBCLCs through various capacity building activities, which include maintaining integrity, reliability and relevancy of the trained members. She is also a member of the Local Governance Council of World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) since 2017. As a part of International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN), she was appointed a country coordinator (IBFAN-Malaysia) and a policy council member of Southeast Asia region (IBFAN-SEA) since 2022. Her advocacy on breastfeeding protection started ever since she worked for MBfPCA, with the ultimate launch of “Self-Reporting Platform for Suspected Violations of Malaysian/International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes” by volunteer Code Watchers of MBfPCA in 2020. Her current work revolves around strategies to strengthen “The Code” monitoring by local civil society organization entities and issues of conflicts of interest surrounding personnels working for maternal and infant young child feeding (MIYCF).
Disclosure(s): No relationship to disclose, including relevant financial relationships
Plenary Session - Challenges and Opportunities in the Global Lactation Consultant Profession
Sunday, August 13, 2023
3:45 PM – 5:00 PM PDT