World Breastfeeding Week 1-7 August 2018

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The World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) coordinates the annual World Breastfeeding Week campaign, working closely with many organisations and individuals. In a world filled with inequality, crises and poverty, breastfeeding is the foundation of lifelong good health for babies and mothers. The slogan of World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) 2018 is Breastfeeding: Foundation of Life.

World Breastfeeding Week 2018 focuses on:

  1. Preventing malnutrition in all its forms: Malnutrition refers both to undernutrition and to overweight and associated non-communicable diseases. This double-burden of malnutrition has major consequences on short- and long-term health.
  2. Ensuring food security even in times of crisis: Food security means access to food for all people at all times. It is affected by availability to food, affordability and different crises e.g. hunger, natural disasters, conflict and environmental degradation.
  3. Breaking the cycle of poverty: Poverty is affected by several factors including hunger and malnutrition. Hunger pushes poor families into a downward spiral and prevents them from breaking out of the poverty cycle.

The WABA partners include: the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine (ABM), International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN), International Lactation Consultant Association (ILCA), La Leche League International (LLLI), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), World Health Organization (WHO), Food Agricultural Organization (FAO) and several other international organizations.

For more information on World Breastfeeding Week 2018, including resources and materials for breastfeeding promotion, see the WABA Website: http://worldbreastfeedingweek.org/

 The poster on the below is reprinted with permission from 10 steps to successful breastfeeding  published by the World Health Organization 2018 (accessed 24 July 2018)