Participants pose for a group photo during the 138th breastfeeding instructor training session at the CQHCWC. [Photo/CQHCWC]

The 138th breastfeeding instructor training session was held at the Chongqing Health Center for Women and Children (Women and Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University), or CQHCWC, in Southwest China's Chongqing on July 18.

Sponsored by the China Maternal and Child Health Association and co-sponsored by the Chongqing Maternal and Child Health Association, the training session was for the purpose of further promoting and supporting breastfeeding, and improving the ability of medical and health care institutions to promote breastfeeding.

Attendees of the event included Zou Ming, president of the Chongqing Maternal and Child Health Association, Zhou Wei, vice-president of the CQHCWC, the center's relevant department directors, and more than 40 medical workers from medical institutions in Chongqing, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, and Yunnan province.

Zou Ming, president of the Chongqing Maternal and Child Health Association, addresses the event on July 18. [Photo/CQHCWC]

Addressing the opening ceremony, Zhou pointed out that the country attaches great importance to breastfeeding, and protecting, promoting and supporting breastfeeding is the responsibility of medical workers.

He said that the training would help medical workers in the city improve their professional abilities and expressed hope that trainees would apply what they have learned in their practical work so as to provide higher-quality services to more pregnant women, infants and young children.

Later, Zou reflected on the development of breastfeeding, recounting a series of national policies and guidelines related to the promotion of breastfeeding since the 1990s. She emphasized that the training session aims to train more professional breastfeeding instructors so as to further improve China's breastfeeding situation and ensure the health of future generations.

The training session is expected to standardize breastfeeding guidance, improve the professional breastfeeding services of medical staff, and increase the breastfeeding success rate.