continues to be a center for research, dissemination and training in kmc. in 1996, 30 interested researchers convened by dr adriano cattaneo and colleagues in november 1996 in trieste, italy, together with the who represented by dr jelka zupan, decided to adopt the original term “kangaroo mother care" created by rey in 1978, in colombia. an international network of kangaroo mother care (ink) was convened at the trieste meeting and has overseen workshops and conferences every two years. after trieste, meetings were held all over the world every two years, with major support from the fundacion canguro. these include: in bogota colombia 1998, yogyakarta indonesia 2000, cape town south africa 2002, rio de janeiro brazil 2004, cleveland usa 2006, uppsala sweden 2008, quebec canada 2010, ahmedabad india 2012, and kigali rwanda 2014, trieste 2016, bogota 2018, manille 2020 (virtual) and madrid 2022. papers have been published on the results of these workshop, the latest being in 2020. an informal steering committee coordinates these meetings: (alphabetically, current) nils bergman, adriano cattaneo, nathalie charpak, kerstin hedberg-nyqvist, ochi ibe, susan ludington, socorro mendoza, mantoa mokrachane, carmen pallas, juan gabriel ruiz, réjean tessier, rekha udani. susan ludington maintains a "kc bib" (bibliography) on behalf of ink, endeavouring to be a complete inventory of any and all publications relevant to kangaroo mother care. this is also broken down in an analysis of 120 charts, in which specific outcomes are collated. the international kangaroo care awareness day has been celebrated worldwide on may 15 since 2011. it is a day to increase awareness to enhance the practice of kangaroo care in nicus, post partum, labor and delivery, and any hospital unit that has babies up to 3 months of age. society and culture the international kangaroo care awareness day, sometimes referred to as world kangaroo care day, or just kangaroo care day is celebrated on may 15 since 2011. it is a day to increase awareness, education, and celebration to enhance the practice of kangaroo care/skin to skin contact globally. healthcare professionals, parents, volunteers around the world show their support, in their own way, for improving kangaroo care practice to benefit babies, parents, and society at large. world prematurity day is observed on 17 november each year to raise awareness of preterm birth and the concerns of preterm babies and their families worldwide. it is also the day to speak about kmc and prematurity and family centered care controversy the main controversy among proponents of kangaroo mother care relates to eligibility to initiate kangaroo position: in the original rey & martinez model and as described in the who guidelines, the infant should be stable to "tolerate skin-to-skin contact". for the fundacion canguro of bogota, the kangaroo position should be started as soon as possible after birth and for as long as possible until the child can no longer tolerate the position. if the mother cannot carry the child, the father or a family member can replace her temporarily. from a biological and neuroscience perspective, others argue that it is separation from mother that causes the instability. regarding ‘kangaroo nutrition’ there is little controversy, with accumulating evidence for the benefits of breastfeeding as such, and evidence that even preterm infants can exclusively breastfeed.