On World Breastfeeding Week, international locations urged to spend money on well being programs and assist breastfeeding moms

GENEVA/NEW YORK, 4 August 2025 – Breastfeeding is among the handiest methods to make sure a child’s well being, improvement, and survival within the earliest phases of life. It acts as their first vaccine, offering safety towards illnesses together with diarrhoea and pneumonia.

Investing in breastfeeding is an funding sooner or later, but solely 48 per cent of infants below six months are solely breastfed – effectively beneath the World Health Assembly goal of 60 per cent by 2030. This is as a result of overlapping challenges for brand spanking new moms, well being employees, and well being programs. 

Millions of moms world wide don’t obtain well timed and expert assist in a healthcare setting once they want it most.

Only a fifth of nations embody toddler and younger little one feeding coaching for the medical doctors and nurses who care for brand spanking new moms. This means the vast majority of the world’s moms depart hospitals with out correct steerage on easy methods to breastfeed their infants and when to introduce complementary feeding.

In many international locations, well being programs are too usually under-resourced, fragmented, or poorly geared up to ship high quality, constant, evidence-based breastfeeding assist.

Investment in breastfeeding assist stays critically low though each greenback invested generates US$35 in financial returns.

As we mark World Breastfeeding Week below the theme, “Prioritise breastfeeding: Create sustainable support systems”, WHO and UNICEF are calling on governments, well being directors, and companions to spend money on high-quality breastfeeding assist, by:

• Ensuring sufficient funding in equitable, high quality maternal and new child care, together with breastfeeding assist providers.
• Increasing nationwide price range allocations for breastfeeding programmes.
• Integrating breastfeeding counselling and assist into routine maternal and little one well being providers, together with antenatal, supply, and postnatal care.
• Ensuring all well being service suppliers are geared up with the talents and information required to assist breastfeeding, together with in emergency and humanitarian settings.
• Strengthening neighborhood well being programs to supply each new mom with ongoing, accessible breastfeeding assist to for as much as two years and past.
• Protecting breastfeeding by making certain that the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes is utilized in all well being services and programs.

Strengthening well being programs to assist breastfeeding isn’t just a well being crucial, it’s a ethical and financial crucial. WHO and UNICEF stay dedicated to supporting international locations to construct resilient well being programs that depart no mom or little one behind.

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About WHO
Dedicated to the well-being of all folks and guided by science, the World Health Organization leads and champions world efforts to present everybody, in all places an equal likelihood at a secure and wholesome life. We are the UN company for well being that connects nations, companions and folks on the entrance strains in 150+ areas – main the world’s response to well being emergencies, stopping illness, addressing the basis causes of well being points and increasing entry to medicines and well being care. Our mission is to advertise well being, hold the world secure and serve the weak. www.who.int

About UNICEF
UNICEF, the United Nations company for kids, works to guard the rights of each little one, in all places, particularly probably the most deprived kids and within the hardest locations to succeed in. Across greater than 190 international locations and territories, we do no matter it takes to assist kids survive, thrive, and fulfil their potential.

For extra details about UNICEF and its work, please go to: www.unicef.org  

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