Our motto is 'Every Drop Counts', and we believe that the provision of safe and screened donor breastmilk makes an important contribution to the care of the premature and sick infants who receive it. We give practical support to the milk bank staff who co-ordinate the provision of donor breastmilk for premature babies and we share expertise and good practice with milk banks and with breastmilk don
ors. We represent milk banking in the UK at a national level, and our aim is the formation of a national donor breastmilk service which would supply infants throughout the UK according to priority of need, rather than according to the chance location of an infant’s birth. We also run conferences, produce newsletters and hold meetings all of which share and disseminate information about milk banking. In these ways we have supported the existing milk banks and UKAMB has been of fundamental importance in providing the necessary support for all the newly opened milk banks in the UK. We aim to ensure everyone working in this small field is able to benefit from our collective experience and knowledge; overseas, newly established milk banks in Africa and Australia have benefited from the work of UKAMB and many countries receive support in their endeavours to start banks of their own. UKAMB has been largely responsible for the resurgence of interest in human milk banking in the UK. Since the year 2000, there has been a year on year increase in the number of donors and the volumes of donated breastmilk collected. Historically our funding has come mainly from membership subscriptions and the sale of guidelines, however donations and funds raised on our behalf will help to secure the future of milk banking in the UK.
