Tipat Halav

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A nurse in Yehud demonstrating to young immigrant mothers how to diaper their babies, 1950

Tipat Halav (Hebrew: טיפת חלב, literally "a drop of milk") is a network of primary healthcare centers in Israel. The centers provide post-natal well-baby and early childhood care to children across the county through the age of six. They offer well-baby checkups and vaccinations. The centers monitor children for developmental issues and public health concerns, as part of an effort to prevent childhood disease and mortality. New and prospective parents are also given assistance in learning about breastfeeding and child care, as well as to detect post-partum depression and domestic violence.[1][2] The efforts of Tipat Halav resulted in a decline of more than 50% in infant mortality in pre-state Israel to among the world's lowest levels.

History

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A man with a donkey in Jerusalem, 1927. The bag on the donkey reads "A Drop of Milk" in Hebrew, English, and Arabic.

In 1909, Henrietta Szold came to Jerusalem, where she observed extremely high levels of disease and infant mortality in the Yishuv, which was then under the control of the Ottoman Empire.[3] After witnessing the squalor and disease, including mothers too weak to shoo flies from their children's eyes, Szold established what became the Hadassah Women's Zionist Organization of America.[4][5] Szold realized that the best way to deal with conditions was to provide preventive care, bringing public health workers from the United States to serve the residents.[6]

Tipat Halav room in a museum

Building on models that had been developed by other organizations, American nurse Bertha Landsman helped establish the first Tipat Halav center in the Old City of Jerusalem in 1921.[6][4] Since contaminated milk was a common cause of infant mortality, the centers taught mothers to breastfeed, and distributed healthy milk and taught parents how to pasteurize milk on their own.[6] Physician Helena Kagan established Baby Welfare Clinics that provided milk and medical care, and later became part of Tipat Halav, serving Jewish and Arab children in Jerusalem.[7][8]

Tipat Halav was named for La Goutte de lait (fr), a network of similar centers established in France in 1894 whose name also translates as "a drop of milk". The French phrase originates from the line "Une goutte de lait à l'enfant nouveau-né" in a poem by Alfred de Musset.[9]

Because many mothers were initially reluctant to visit Tipat Halav, outreach efforts provided diapers as an incentive for mothers to bring their babies for care.[6] As the program expanded, new centers were constructed to serve the Arab population.[6] Early deliveries of pasteurized milk were made using donkey carts.[5] Mothers were handed flyers emphasizing that "It is easier to maintain a healthy baby than cure a sick one."[10]

In 1924, the American businessman and philanthropist Nathan Straus contributed $10,000 to Hadassah. This funding was used to create a nationwide network of infant care centers. Strauss had been an advocate for pasteurized milk in New York City.[11] One center funded by Straus, described as a "friend of the children all over the world", targeted at Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem and was "dedicated to meet the needs of Moslem women in particular, for all babies are dear to Mr. Straus' heart."[12]

By the early 1940s, the efforts of Tipat Halav had reduced infant mortality rates to levels comparable to those in Europe.[10] Infant mortality rates that were cut from 108 per 1,000 live births in 1927 to 48 per 1,000 by 1948, one of the lowest in the world.[13] After the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, Tipat Halav centers run by Hadassah were transferred to the government.[4]

Around 2010, the Israel Ministry of Health, as part of an effort to improve efficiency in the provision of child care, divided up control of the 900 Tipat Halav centers nationwide. Half were run by the four state-mandated health service organizations, more than 40% by the government and about 5% by the cities of Jerusalem (with 34 clinics) and Tel Aviv (with 15).[14]

References

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  1. ^ Family Care Center (Tipat Halav), Pleased to Meet You, Israel Ministry of Health.
  2. ^ Tipat Chalav, Nefesh B'Nefesh. Accessed November 25, 2025. "Tipat Chalav is a system of clinics that provide community public health services, primarily to infants and toddlers (well-baby clinics). The Tipot Chalav are administered by district health offices (Lishkat Briut Ezorit) and are staffed mainly by public health nurses. Additional staff include physicians, dieticians, health consultants and social workers."
  3. ^ Krantz, Hazel. Daughter of My People: Henrietta Szold and Hadassah, p. 61. Bloomsbury Academic, 1995. ISBN 9781568213378. Accessed November 25, 2025.
  4. ^ a b c Ferber, Alona. "Tipat Halav: Timely Help These well-baby clinics became an integral part of Hadassah’s efforts to build a health-care system in Palestine; Tipat Halav clinics were systematically opened in neighborhoods that needed them across the country.", Haaretz, October 10, 2012. Accessed November 26, 2025. "While Hadassah first introduced medical services in Palestine in 1913, Bertha Landsman, an American nurse, set up Hadassah’s first Tipat Halav in 1921 after arriving in Palestine. The clinic provided care for mothers with newborn babies and made pasteurized milk available to those who could not afford it."
  5. ^ a b Pomerantz, Batsheva. "A flood of appreciation for a drop of milk; An exhibition looks back on the history of Tipat Halav clinics from their establishments in 1921, when the infant mortality rate was shockingly high.", The Jerusalem Post, October 29, 2010. Accessed November 25, 2025. "In the early 1920s pasteurized milk – an innovation at the time – was packed in ice boxes and delivered by donkey to Jerusalem mothers on the Donkey Express, which left the Old City’s Tipat Halav station and proceeded to the Rothschild Hospital on Rehov Hanevi'im. That first Tipat Halav station was opened almost 90 years ago, in June 1921."
  6. ^ a b c d e Donchin, Joel. "What almost every mother knows", Haaretz, May 11, 2008. Accessed November 25, 2025.
  7. ^ Zakheim, Miryam. "The Guardian Angel of Jerusalem’s Children: Dr. Helena Kagan", National Library of Israel], December 9, 2024. Accessed December 3, 2025. "But Dr. Kagan’s crowning achievement was the establishment the city’s Tipat Halav ('drop of milk') well-baby clinics.... One was at the station itself, where mothers were encouraged to stay a little longer, weigh their babies, receive information on disease prevention, and discuss their challenges. The other was through a citywide distribution effort on the back of a donkey carrying a sign that read Tipat Halav – a drop of milk – which is the name of this network of well-baby clinics to this day. Dr. Helena Kagan cared for all the children of Jerusalem – Arabs and Jews, religious and secular, wealthy and poor."
  8. ^ History: 1920s, Women's International Zionist Organization. Accessed November 25, 2025. "The whole enterprise was given the name, ‘Tipat Halav’ (‘A Drop of Milk’) and was located at the Baby Welfare Clinics. When they received the milk, the visiting women would also receive advice and the medical services of a doctor. Thus, the combination of the two, led to the increased awareness of medical services amongst women, and it meant that they received correct advice regarding nutrition."
  9. ^ Gilad, Elon. "Why are Israeli infant clinics called Tipat Halav - 'a drop of milk'", Instagram, November 19, 2025. Accessed November 25, 2025. "But the name 'Tipat Khalav' didn't come from Hebrew.... The phrase came from a poem by Alfred de Musset; The key line reads: 'Une goutte de lait à l'enfant nouveau-né' / 'a drop of milk for the newborn child'.... He fought deadly unpasteurized milk in the 1890s, saved thousands of children, brought the idea to Palestine — and the French phrase La Goutte de Lait ('A drop of milk') became Tipat Halav."
  10. ^ a b Tipat Halav, World Zionist Organization; The Central Zionist Archives. Accessed November 25, 2025. "In 1921, as a result of the joint efforts of WIZO and the Hadassah organization, headed by Szold, a clinic was opened in Jerusalem, which, for the first time provided services solely for pregnant women and young infants. The medical staff provided the mothers with guidance leaflets, adorned with the sentence 'It is easier to maintain a healthy baby than cure a sick one.'"
  11. ^ Hadassah's Revolutionary Tipat Halav Clinics of 1920s Featured in Jerusalem Old City Museum, Hadassah Women's Zionist Organization of America. Accessed November 25, 2025.
  12. ^ The Palestine Weekly, p. 561, Hassolel, 1924. Accessed November 25, 2025. "The enlargement of the work was made possible by the famous friend of the children all over the world and especially of Palestinian children, Mr. Nathan Straus. It is situated in an Arab neighborhood and is dedicated to meet the needs of Moslem women in particular, for all babies are dear to Mr. Straus' heart."
  13. ^ Weiss, Dorit. "Preventive Medical Services For Mothers And Infants: "Tipat Halav" (A Drop Of Milk) In Israel: An Historical Perspective", Harefuah, December 2019. Accessed November 25, 2025. "In the years before statehood in 1948, mortality rates in Eretz Yisrael were falling. Infant mortality, had declined to 48 deaths per 1,000 live births, was one of the world's lowest rates. It was a significant improvement, since in 1927, for example, infant mortality in Eretz Yisrael had reached 108 per 1,000 live births - one of the world's highest rates at the time."
  14. ^ Siegl-Itzkovitch, Judy. "Knesset Health C'ttee hears of jumble of authorities, responsibilities of baby clinics", Archived May 19, 2025, at the Wayback Machine, Jerusalem Post, January 31, 2024. accessed November 25, 2025. "Over a decade ago, the Health Ministry divided up the 900 well-baby (tipat halav) clinics around the country so that some were owned and run by the four public health funds, others by the Jerusalem and Tel Aviv Municipalities, and the rest by the ministry. The aim was to save money, but the result was a hodgepodge: a lack of uniform funding and standards, supervision, and practices.... They were told that 44% of the clinics in the country belong to and are operated by the ministry, 5.5% are operated by the two municipalities, and about half by the Clalit, Maccabi, Meuhedet, and Leumit health funds."
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  • Media related to Tipat Halav at Wikimedia Commons