By Michal Young, MD, FAAP, FABM

A significant racial disparity exists among the certified lactation consultants for the District. We’re working with the Department of Health to increase the number of racial and ethnic minorities to better mirror our population.

To improve breast feeding support and education in the community, we’ve developed an affordable lactation consultant preparatory certification class that has been subsidized through the Department of Health to reduce participants costs to $100. We’ve had 56 racial, ethnically, differently abled and sexually diverse individuals participate in this course over the past five years.