What Impact Does the Rogers Hixon Ontario Human Milk Bank Have by the Numbers?

The Rogers Hixon Ontario Human Milk Bank supplies pasteurized donor human milk to 52 hospitals across Ontario and the Atlantic provinces, has screened more than 8,500 prospective donors since 2013, and can pasteurize 300 litres of donor milk in a single week. These figures describe a milk bank operating at regional scale: its reach extends beyond Ontario's borders, its donor pipeline has grown steadily over a decade, and its processing capacity is measured in hundreds of litres per week rather than small batches.

Hospital reach: 52 sites across two regions

The bank's most direct measure of impact is where its milk ends up. According to the organization, 52 hospitals across Ontario and the Atlantic provinces currently benefit from its donor milk.

That number matters for two reasons:

• It is a network, not a single site. Donor milk is distributed to hospital NICUs rather than to individual families, so one donation can serve multiple hospitals over time.
• It crosses provincial lines. The Atlantic provinces are included alongside Ontario, which means the bank functions as a regional supplier rather than a strictly provincial one.

For context on how that milk is used once it arrives, see How Hospitals Use Donor Human Milk from the Rogers Hixon Ontario Human Milk Bank.

Donor screening: 8,500+ prospective donors since 2013

Since 2013, more than 8,500 prospective milk donors have been screened. Screening is the gatekeeping step that determines whether a donor's milk is safe to pasteurize and distribute, so this figure reflects both interest in donating and the volume of health assessment work the bank has completed.

Two things this number does not tell you:

• It is not the number of donors who ultimately gave milk. "Prospective" and "screened" describe people who entered the process, not all of whom complete it.
• It is cumulative, not annual. Spread across roughly a decade, it averages out to a steady intake rather than a single surge.

If you are considering donating, the screening requirement is the first practical hurdle. The step-by-step process is covered in How to Donate Human Milk to the Rogers Hixon Ontario Human Milk Bank.

Processing capacity: 300 litres pasteurized per week

The bank states its team can pasteurize 300 litres of donor human milk in a single week. This is a capacity figure — what the operation is equipped to handle — and it is the clearest indicator of the bank's technical scale.

For a sense of proportion: 300 litres is roughly 300,000 millilitres. Preterm infants typically receive donor milk in small, measured volumes, so weekly capacity at this level supports a large number of hospital feedings rather than a handful.

Pasteurization is also where the bank's research program concentrates. The organization reports 50+ published research papers, much of it aimed at making donor human milk safer — a reminder that capacity and safety standards are linked: higher throughput only works if the processing holds up.

Who the milk is meant for: 1,500+ infants per year

The bank estimates that 1,500+ low-birth-weight infants in Ontario could benefit from donor human milk each year. This is the demand-side figure that gives the other numbers their purpose.

Low-birth-weight and preterm infants are the primary recipients because they are the group most likely to need human milk when a parent's own supply is not yet available or sufficient. The gap between "could benefit" (1,500+) and the 52 hospitals served shows the bank is designed around hospital need, not individual requests.

What the numbers add up to

Taken together, the figures describe a mature operation: a decade-plus of donor screening, a processing line measured in hundreds of litres per week, and a distribution network spanning two regions. The bank's own framing — "every drop counts" — is backed by numbers that show the drops are collected, processed, and delivered at a scale large enough to matter for Ontario's most vulnerable infants.

For the broader picture of what the organization is and how it was founded, see What Is the Rogers Hixon Ontario Human Milk Bank?.