During emergencies, communities across the United States mobilize quickly. People want to help, and one of the most common impulses is to donate supplies — everything from diapers and wipes to infant formula and feeding equipment.
For families with young children, these gestures come from a place of deep care. But without coordination, even well-intentioned donations can create risk.
Recent conversations in the global Infant and Young Child Feeding in Emergencies (IYCF-E) community — including the UNICEF/PAHO joint statement for Jamaica and the Operational Guidance for Infant and Young Child Feeding in Emergencies (OG-IFE v3.0) — have highlighted the importance of clear, consistent messaging around donations. We fully agree.
To help communities understand what the guidance actually says, here are two foundational OG-IFE implementation tools that UNICEF/WHO developed:
- Preventing and Managing Inappropriate Donations of BMS
- Planning and Managing Artificial Feeding Interventions During Emergencies
Given the questions this has raised, we want to clarify SAFE’s position and explain how global guidance intersects with the U.S. emergency response landscape.
SAFE’s Work Is Centered on the United States
SAFE provides training and technical assistance for emergency responders within the continental United States and other similar, high-resource countries.
We want to be absolutely clear:
In alignment with OG-IFE, SAFE discourages all donations of breastmilk substitute and formula. Global guidance is summarized clearly.
What About Donations of Cleaning or Sanitation Items?
Even donating cleaning supplies or kit components can become complicated. After Hurricane Helene, we saw firsthand how quickly even helpful items can overwhelm a community when they arrive without coordination. Communities don’t just need “stuff”; they need the capacity, education, and infrastructure to use that stuff safely. The truth is, sending money is almost always better than sending items, because it allows local responders to purchase exactly what their families need in the moment. And if physical items are sent, they should never be shipped blindly into a disaster zone — they must be sent by request, and always paired with the education required to use them safely. In emergencies, no supply — even the good ones — should ever arrive without a plan, a purpose, and the knowledge needed to prevent harm.
Together, we can move toward a safer and more coordinated emergency feeding response that protects infants, supports caregivers, and reduces preventable harm.