World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) is a global campaign to raise awareness on matters related to breastfeeding. WBW is officially celebrated every 1st -7th August since 1992 till date. Since 2016, WBW is aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In 2018, a World Health Assembly resolution endorsed WBW as an important breastfeeding promotion strategy.
The WHO recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months of life, followed by continued breastfeeding with appropriate complementary foods for up to 2 years and beyond. WHO also recommends early and continuous skin-to-skin contact, rooming-in, and kangaroo mother care, which improve neonatal survival and morbidity.
Encourage all mothers to begin breastfeeding as soon as possible after birth, preferably within the first hour of delivery, and should receive practical assistance to enable them to initiate and establish breastfeeding as well as handle common breastfeeding issues.
Skillful breastfeeding counseling is critical to increasing breastfeeding rates. Improving access to expert breastfeeding counseling can help to increase the length of breastfeeding and encourage exclusive breastfeeding, which benefits newborns, families, and economies. Mothers require competent breastfeeding support more more than ever during the CoVID-19 outbreak.
As a result of the epidemic, majority of health personnel responses are responding to emergencies. Breastfeeding support services, including counseling and competent lactation assistance, are in short supply. Infection control methods, such as physical separation, make it difficult to maintain community counseling and mother-to-mother support programs. As a result, countries must employ novel solutions, such as e-counselling and support, to give expert breastfeeding assistance to mothers. Step up for Breastfeeding today!
World Health Day theme and History…
WORLD ALLIANCE FOR BREASTFEEDING ACTION – WABA
The World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) organizes the event each year. WABA is a global network that works to protect, promote, and support breastfeeding around the world. Along the way, it collaborates with the World Health Organization and UNICEF to ensure that its assistance reaches the right people in the right communities.
Every year on August 1st, World Breastfeeding Week begins and ends on August 7th.
However, busy mothers face a variety of pressures, which means that women who wish to breastfeed their children may not always get the assistance they need. Due to busy work schedules and the many other challenges that modern women face, women may not always feel that breastfeeding their child is an option that is available to them.
Breastfeeding awareness weeks attempt to increase awareness of the health and well-being benefits of breastfeeding, as well as the significance of assisting women in continuing to breastfeed for as long as they choose.
THEMES
See Themes from 2016 till date below;
