Elisabeth Sterken, MSc, BSc, Dt, is a nutritionist and consumer advocate on maternal and child health, specializing in infant and young child feeding. She has been actively working on the protection, promotion and support of breastfeeding and optimal infant and young child feeding in a number of ways both in her home country, Canada and internationally for over 30 years.

Professional Qualifications:

University of Toronto: BSc (Honours), nutrition

University of Waterloo: MSc, food sciences

Dietetic Internship: Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto

Key areas of work include:

·        Regional Coordinator International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN) North America;

·        Past chair IBFAN Global Council, current member IBFAN Global Council;

·        Chairs the IBFAN Codex Alimentarius Working Group to develop submissions and present the IBFAN interventions at Codex meetings on Nutrition, Food Labelling;

·        Participates in Codex meetings on Nutrition, Labelling and Food Hygiene (since 1995)  as an advocate for the protection of breastfeeding and Code implementation in the standards setting for infant formulas and baby foods;

·        Participated in World Health Assembly meetings for the last 30 years to promote and advocate for the protection of breastfeeding and the strengthening the provisions of the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes;

·        Past Chairperson and Co-Chair of the Non-Governmental Organization/Civil Society Organizations group of the UN Standing Committee on Nutrition;

·        Works actively on infant and young child feeding policy development both nationally and internationally to address the global crisis of childhood malnutrition and mortality;

·        Co-ordinated breastfeeding advocacy and promotion campaigns across Canada;

·        Organized over 100 trainings across Canada on infant and young child feeding, the BFHI and the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes;

·        Participated in Codex trainings in a number of countries, including the Netherlands, South Africa, Guatemala and India;

·        Past IBFAN representative on the UNICEF/WHO Coordinating Committee for the Global Breastfeeding Collective.

IBFAN is the recipient of the Right Livelihood Award, known as the Alternative Nobel Peace Prize - awarded in Sweden, 1998.