World Breastfeeding Week: 1-7 August

World Breastfeeding Week: 1-7 August

WHO / Ipro Media
Finda Kargbo, 36, is breastfeeding her youngest child while waiting for the nurse to administer the first dose of malaria vaccine to her 6-month-old baby.
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Breastfeeding for a sustainable start in life: strengthen what works

The 2026 theme for the World Breastfeeding Week is "Breastfeeding for a sustainable start in life: strengthen what works," focuses on tracking progress, evaluating impact, and scaling proven approaches that improve breastfeeding outcomes. It calls on governments, health systems, workplaces, communities, civil society organizations, and families to build on successful experiences and strengthen the "Warm Chain of Support" for breastfeeding.

The interventions are proven. The economic returns are exceptional. The remaining challenge is not knowing what works – it is investing at sufficient scale.

We know what works

 

Skilled Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) Counselling

Counselling and education has been shown to substantially increase exclusive breastfeeding rates. A systematic review that pooled estimates across 16 studies found that when intervention is delivered through health facilities, communities and households, exclusive breastfeeding rates increased by 58%.

 

Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI)

The Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding lay out essential components of optimal clinical care for new mothers and their infants. Effectiveness studies involving 15,096 newborns found that implementation of BFHI led to a 45% increase in exclusive breastfeeding rates at 6 months and 26% increase in continued breastfeeding.

 

National Mass Media Campaigns

A systematic review of 16 studies found that media interventions integrated with counselling and community mobilization increased exclusive breastfeeding by 17%.

 

 

The International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes

Countries with legislation substantially aligned with the Code report exclusive breastfeeding rates of 54% on average, compared with only 24% in countries with no legal measures.

 

Paid Maternity Leave

A systematic review of 35 studies from low- and middle-income countries found that paid maternity leave was associated with a 52% increase in exclusive breastfeeding.

 

Workplace Breastfeeding Support

Workplace breastfeeding support policies and programmes are associated with significantly higher rates of exclusive breastfeeding.