As the world commemorates World Breastfeeding Week, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) have called for greater investment in breastfeeding support, saying it remains one of the most effective and affordable ways to give children a healthy start in life while improving maternal health.
World Breastfeeding Week is an annual global campaign held from August 1 to 7 to raise awareness about the vital health, social, and economic benefits of breastfeeding.
In a joint statement ahead of the annual commemoration, the two agencies said many mothers and families continue to miss out on the support needed to successfully breastfeed.
“Too many mothers and families around the world still lack access to services and interventions that enable and support breastfeeding,” said the developmental partners.
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UNICEF and WHO said breastfeeding provides infants and young children with essential nutrition, increases immunity, helps protect against serious illness, and supports cognitive development.
For mothers, they said breastfeeding also offers significant health benefits by reducing the risk of non-communicable diseases.
“For mothers, breastfeeding brings important health benefits too, helping reduce the risk of noncommunicable diseases such as breast and ovarian cancers, and type 2 diabetes,” the agencies said.
The organisations noted breastfeeding rates have improved globally over the past decade, with exclusive breastfeeding during the first six months increasing from about 37 percent in 2012 to more than 47 percent today.
They added that the proportion of children breastfed up to two years of age has also risen from 38 percent to 50 percent over the past five years.
“These gains show that sustained investments in policies and programmes for mothers and families are working. Yet progress remains uneven, with many countries lagging behind global targets,” the statement said.
Despite the progress, UNICEF and WHO warned that support services remain inadequate in many countries, particularly in low-income, fragile and humanitarian settings.
“The evidence is clear: cost-effective interventions include skilled breastfeeding support in health systems, community-based counselling, maternity protection policies, and protection from the exploitative marketing of commercial milk formulas,” the agencies said.
They said scaling up breastfeeding could prevent almost 400,000 child deaths and around 140,000 maternal deaths every year while delivering significant economic benefits.
“Every US$1 invested in breastfeeding promotion generates an estimated US$59 in economic returns through lower health-care costs, improved cognitive development, higher educational attainment, and increased lifetime earnings,” the statement said.
This year’s World Breastfeeding Week is being commemorated under the theme, “Breastfeeding for a Sustainable Start in Life: Strengthen What Works.”
UNICEF and WHO also called on countries to strengthen health systems to provide quality breastfeeding support for mothers and newborns, expand community-based counselling and peer support programmes, enforce the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes, invest in paid maternity leave and family-friendly workplace policies, integrate breastfeeding interventions into maternal healthcare services and sustain support in humanitarian settings.
“By investing in proven solutions, we can give every child the best possible start in life and make sure every mother gets the care and services she needs,” the agencies said.
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