REGINA - Dr. Shela Hirani has been advocating for breastfeeding for years now, and her contributions to improving health for women and children have landed her on the Women's Executive Network (WXN) Canada's Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Awards for 2024.
The journey that led Hirani to receive this achievement began back in high school when she was extremely passionate about becoming a nurse. She talked about how she could "connect myself with people, caring [for] somebody and making a difference in the society."
After completing a bachelor of science in nursing degree, she decided to learn about maternal and child health and neonatal health.
Hirani was "fascinated with working with the newborn babies and caring for families because I [Hirani] always see some kind of connection with the young babies."
Through her work in nursing, Hirani concluded that health promotion at a community level was the main driving force for her passion. So, she wanted to focus on vaccinations and breastfeeding.
She received an advanced diploma in early childhood development. Hirani learned that in the early stages of their lives, a baby's brain development (about 90 per cent) happens in the first six to seven years after birth.
Learning this fact made Hirani realize the importance of mothers breastfeeding their children during a child’s early stages.
Research has shown that breastfed babies have a higher IQ and better neuronal connections, according to Hirani.
Breastfeeding "is the right nutrition [for babies], and it’s natural," said Hirani. The immunological component breastmilk contains also stops a baby from getting multiple infections.
During the process of breastfeeding, a mother holds her baby. This allows the child to learn about trust and become more emotionally mature later in their life.
Breastfeeding can also benefit a mother, as studies have shown it prevents women from getting breast cancer and also helps return their bodies to their original shape after going through pregnancy, said Hirani.
She added by breastfeeding, a mother does not have to run to the store to buy clean water or formula and can ultimately save money.
While breastfeeding has a lot of positives, the challenge is educating people on its importance while providing those who breastfeed with a safe space to do it in.
Hirani spoke about low-income families around the world, including Canada, who lack access to clean drinking water and cannot afford to buy baby formula. This can lead babies to contract a number of illnesses that have a high mortality rate. While these mothers could breastfeed their children for free, they do not have an understanding of the positives of breastfeeding.
So, while working towards her PhD, Hirani had to write a thesis, and she chose breastfeeding challenges as her topic. Hirani decided to focus on mothers living in disaster areas, so she travelled to a disaster relief zone in northern Pakistan, where there was an earthquake and flooding.
She worked with mothers who were living in disaster areas with a lack of supplies and aid. Hirani heard many stories from mothers who married at around the age of 16 and had multiple children. The area was hit by flooding caused by a glacial lake bursting. Families had to quickly leave behind their belongings, food, clothing, medicine and more. Because these mothers lacked clothing and had to share shelters, people could see them breastfeeding their children. Hirani said the mothers were getting criticized for their actions in public but told her they had two choices. Either breastfeed their baby to save their child’s life or stop because others do not want to see it and give in.
During her time in Pakistan, Hirani realized the importance of a mother having the support of family, friends and the community backing them to ensure they do not lose their empowerment and that they understand how they can help save a child's life.
Hirani also aided the people in Fort McMurray when they were forced to leave their homes due to the fires. Many of the families ended up in Edmonton and had no clean drinking supplies to feed their families, so Hirani joined the Alberta Breastfeeding Committee.
In 2019, Hirani became an associate professor at the University of Regina in the nursing department, where she has carried on her movement. She is using the information she has gathered and is teaching it to students as part of their curriculum.
Hirani is also working with the World Health Organization (WHO), where they recognized her as a top 100 nurse leader in the world in 2020. Since moving to Saskatchewan, Hirani has joined the Breastfeeding Committee for Sask.
With all the research and advocating she has done, Hirani has become a voice for breastfeeding and working with mothers, which includes new immigrants and refugees.
Because of her work, Hirani was recently named to Canada's Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Award.
The 100 women are selected by the WXN. These women have displayed relentless determination, passion, dreams, and spirit.
Hirani was grateful to be selected as one of the winners. She said, "it's a great honour for me to be recognized in the category of community impact [for the award]." Hirani added the award is also a responsibility to ensure she keeps making the same differences in people's lives.
Many of her friends and colleagues were very happy for her to win the award. Hirani’s daughter was the most happy to hear her mother was recognized. She views her as a role model. Hirani said her daughter wants to follow in her footsteps and be in the same placement.
Hirani added she dedicates the award to the mothers and partners she has worked closely with and who have supported her over the years.
Looking ahead to the future, Hirani is working towards baby-friendly initiatives.
Her goal is to have the movement not only in hospitals but in the diverse communities across Sask. By bringing in this initiative, Sask. would join the WHO's goal of 10 steps to successful breastfeeding.
Hirani looks forward to investing more time into her research and overall improving the health of all children and their mothers.
