CGBI was established in 2006 within the Maternal and Child Health Department of the School of Public Health at UNC-Chapel Hill as the Center for Infant and Young Child Feeding and Care, and serves as the first such center in a school of public health. It furthers statewide, national, and global health through translation of research and evidence into innovations in program initiatives to increase understanding and support for optimal infant and young child feeding in relation to maternal and child health.

The goal is to normalize best practices of the three "B"s - breastfeeding, birthspacing and birth - with attention to associated child health, survival, growth and development, and maternal reproductive health and survival. We consider these three "B"s as essential for quality of care in infant and young child feeding, and to create an optimal breastfeeding norm.

Our comprehensive approach includes attention to health services, community support, legal protection, economic assessment, emergency settings, and concurrent issues, such as HIV/AIDS, that impact on the mother/child dyad. As a result, the varied disciplines that comprise Public Health are considered in research, service and policy activities.

The UNC-Chapel Hill Gillings School of Global Public Health is nationally and internationally recognized for quality in research, service and training, and serves as an ideal setting for CGBI. 

For more About the Institute, please see the menu bar on the right.