Breastfeeding support: an outreach project to improve medical student training, child, maternal and environmental health

Abstract

The Breastfeeding Support project arose from the Biochemistry Department of the School of Medicine of the National University of Tucumán in Argentina, in response to the need to strengthen breastfeeding practice in the Tucumán community. A joint work between teachers, students, health personnel and different community actors is proposed. The general objective is to disseminate the benefits of breastfeeding for health as a whole (children, mothers, families, community and environment). This article describes and analyzes the activities and methodologies used, their adaptation to the situation of isolation resulting from the pandemic, and the impact on the project's beneficiaries and on the students who participate as volunteers. It is also worth reflecting on the contribution of these outreach activities to the integral formation of students and to the university's social responsibility towards health and the environment.