Croatia
The first human milk bank in Croatia was opened on 15th November 2019. It is a part of the Croatian Tissue and Cell Bank, a division of the Department of Transfusion Medicine and Transplantation Biology in University Hospital Centre Zagreb.
Contact
- Branka Golubić - banka.mlijeka@kbc-zagreb.hr
The Human Milk Bank was a joint project of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Croatia, the UNICEF office in Croatia, the Croatian Breastfeeding Support Group and University Hospital Centre Zagreb. The Heart Milk Bank and Milk Bank Scotland in Glasgow provided invaluable expertise, hospitality and guidance in the realization of the project by means of a professional visit.
In early 2020, the Human Milk Bank was licensed as a tissue establishment according to Directive 2004/23/EC.
The Bank has received considerable interest from hundreds of potential donors and currently has more than 20 ongoing donors. After the first month of operation, it has over 60 litres of donated human milk in stock. On 31st January 2020, the bank issued its first milk for clinical use in the NICU of University Hospital Centre Zagreb.
Our plan is to operate as a national milk bank to supply all NICUs in Croatia with pasteurized human milk.