Magen David Adom’s National Human Milk Bank of Israel was initiated six years ago due to an understanding that helping and saving lives starts with helping and saving infants, Raphael Herbst, the Deputy Director International Relations Department of Magen David Adom said at The Jerusalem Post’s Miami Summit earlier this week.
MDA realized that it needs to do something that is traditionally different for those who need help with infants, Herbst told the conference.
The Post’s Inbal Ann Bouskila pointed out that MDA has provided over 4.3 tons of milk to neonatal intensive care units.
Herbst stated that mothers who give birth prematurely often take between 24-48 hours to produce breast milk. Newborns lacking this milk have a high chance of facing developmental issues, particularly as breastmilk contains antibodies, nutrients, and everything else a baby needs to grow up, he added.
After the October 7 massacre, MDA saw the “pure evil” that people can do, Herbst commented, as the organization noted that a lot of babies were orphaned or had mothers critically injured who could no longer breastfeed.
“We knew we had to change the role of what a human milk bank does,” Herbst recalled. He also noted special circumstances, including providing milk so doctors could return to medical duty without worrying about feeding their newborns. One case even included providing milk so that a female F-16 pilot could return to flight missions without worrying about her child.
Herbst recounted an incident when a mother with a newborn was murdered in a terror attack on a Jaffa train amid the Israel-Iran war in June.
“There was a hero named Inbar. She was 33 years old - carrying her baby, living a healthy life and educating people on the importance of breastfeeding. Then the terror attack happened,” he recalled.
Inbar fell on top of the baby to save its life at the last moment, but she was murdered, Herbst recounted.
MDA provided breast milk to the father so that Inbar’s legacy could be continued, he said.
“The least MDA could do is to fulfil what she would want for her child,” he concluded.
MDA’s National Human Milk Bank Whatsapp: +972 52-634-4101
Written in collaboration with MDA