The Breastfeeding Support Service of the Lanzarote Health Area, attached to the Ministry of Health of the Government of the Canary Islands, has been a finalist in the IV Innova Awards for Women's Health, in the Healthcare Models category. The recognition took place within the framework of the 32nd National Congress of the Spanish Society of General and Family Physicians (SEMG), held last weekend in Oviedo.
The project, titled ‘First steps of the Specialized Breastfeeding Support Service in the Lanzarote Health Area. Interdisciplinarity and proximity to protect the desire to breastfeed’, is driven by the heads of the service, Ana Isabel Roldán and Estefanía Mota, a Family and Community Physician and a Primary Care Midwife, respectively. Both are International Board Certified Lactation Consultants (IBCLC).
The Innova Awards for Women's Health recognize initiatives that contribute to improving healthcare and the quality of life for women, while promoting the dissemination of innovative experiences and good healthcare practices.
In the case of Lanzarote, the jury has valued the work of a specialized service that offers support to mothers and babies with difficulties in initiating or maintaining breastfeeding. Furthermore, it addresses complex situations that require specific intervention to promote the continuity of breastfeeding and prevent its early abandonment.
More than a thousand consultations in one year
This specialized service began operating at the San Bartolomé Health Center in July 2025. Since then, it has carried out 1,081 consultations, offering personalized attention to mothers and infants with specific needs related to feeding and care during the first months of life.
The results obtained reflect the impact of this healthcare resource. Seven out of ten women achieve the feeding goal they set in their first consultation, and 70 percent of those who wish to relactate —transition from mixed or artificial feeding to exclusive breastfeeding— succeed with the support of the professionals.
The consultation addresses specific and complex clinical situations, such as difficulties in establishing lactation from birth, the need to maintain milk production in mothers with hospitalized babies, or acute problems like mastitis and breast engorgement. It also offers advice in situations related to surgical interventions or medical treatments and provides individualized follow-up for infants with low weight or sucking difficulties.
Commitment to breastfeeding
The medical director of Primary Care, María Eugenia Perdomo, congratulated those responsible for the project on this national recognition and highlighted that it represents an endorsement of the Lanzarote Health Area's commitment to promoting breastfeeding.
Perdomo emphasized that breastfeeding "is a beneficial practice for the health of mothers and children and is part of quality perinatal care based on scientific evidence." She also stressed the "importance of continuing to promote specialized resources that allow families to be supported during this stage."
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