World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) is a global campaign annually celebrated across the globe in the first week of August, from 1st to 7th, to generate public awareness about the importance of breastfeeding, support for breastfeeding, and its benefits.
- Aim : To support and encourage breastfeeding as a significant aspect of health and well-being for both mother and child.
- The World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) coordinates the annual WBW campaign.
2024 Theme:
- The theme of WBW 2024 is, “Closing the gap: Breastfeeding support for all” and 2024 campaign theme is “Breastfeeding support for all”.
- The 2024 theme highlights the diversity of breastfeeding experiences and encourage families, societies, and healthcare professionals to support every breastfeeding mother.
Significance:
i.It recognises breastfeeding mothers, amplifying their voices, and highlighting the need for multi-level support.
ii.This support includes:
- Policies and attitudes that value women and breastfeeding;
- A women and breastfeeding-friendly health care system;
- Respect for women’s autonomy and their right to breastfeed anytime, anywhere;
- Solidarity and community support.
About Breastfeeding:
i.Breastfeeding is one of the most effective ways to ensure child health and survival and yet currently, fewer than half of infants under 6 months old are exclusively breastfed.
ii.Breastmilk is the ideal food for infants, offering safe, clean nutrition and essential antibodies to protect against common childhood illnesses.
Background:
i.WBW was started in 1992 to commemorate the Innocenti Declaration on the protection, promotion, and support of breastfeeding, adopted at the Spedale degli Innocenti in Florence, Italy, on 30 July- 1 August 1990.
- The 1st WBW was observed in 1992.
- The declaration was produced and adopted at the WHO/UNICEF policymakers’ meeting on “Breastfeeding in the 1990s: A Global Initiative”, co-sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Washington, D.C., the United States of America(USA) and the Swedish International Development Authority (SIDA).
ii.In 2016, during the WABA 7th Global Breastfeeding Partners’ Meeting in Malaysia, the WBW campaign was aligned with the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
- It promotes various strategies to encourage breastfeeding through the WBW-SDGs campaign.
iii.In 2018, the WHO adopted a resolution endorsing WBW as an important breastfeeding promotion strategy.
iv.WBW is supported by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and many Ministries of Health and civil society partners.
Response of the WHO:
i.The WHO advocates breastfeeding as the optimal nourishment for infants and the goal is to boost exclusive breastfeeding rates to at least 50% by 2025.
ii.The WHO, the UNICEF, and many international agencies created the Global Breastfeeding Collective (GBC) to garner public support for breastfeeding to increase investment in breastfeeding worldwide
iii. The WHO’s Network for Global Monitoring and Support for Implementation of the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes, also known as NetCode, ensures that breast-milk substitutes are not marketed inappropriately.
Key Facts:
i.Inadequate breastfeeding contributes to 16% of child deaths annually.
ii.Breastfeeding reduces the risk of cancer and type II diabetes in women.
iii.Annually, over 820 000 children’s lives could be saved among children under 5 years, if all children (0–23 months) were optimally breastfed.
iv.About 44% of infants 0–6 months old are exclusively breastfed.
v.Undernutrition is estimated to be associated with 2.7 million child deaths annually or 45% of all child deaths.
2024 Event:
On 6 August 2024, during World Breastfeeding Week 2024, the WHO, UNICEF, and the GBC will be hosting the webinar, Strength in Numbers – How Monitoring Breastfeeding Policies and Programs creates accountability and empowers change to mark the WBW 2024.
About the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA):
WABA was formed in 1991 as a global network of individuals and organisations dedicated to the protection, promotion, and support of breastfeeding.
Executive Director(ED)- Amal Omer Salim
Headquarters– Penang, Malaysia.
