We know breast milk is the optimum nutrition for a newborn baby, the nutrients are tailored exactly to our children’s needs and it also provides them with invaluable immunity. Now World Breastfeeding Week 2016 is showing the far-reaching impact increasing breastfeeding rates worldwide can have on reducing poverty, protecting the planet and even eradicating gender inequality.
Last year, world leaders committed to 17 goals aimed at addressing some of the world’s most pressing issues under the umbrella heading of Sustainable Development Goals, which they hope to achieve in the next 15 years.
This year’s World Breastfeeding Week 2016 theme is working on raising awareness of the links between breastfeeding and the Sustainable Development Goals:
“There is a reason why virtually every country around the world observes World Breastfeeding Week every year: Breastfeeding is one of the most effective – and cost-effective – ways to save and improve the lives of children everywhere, yielding lifelong health benefits for infants and their mothers.”
“And increasingly, it is clear that breastfeeding is not only the cornerstone of a child’s healthy development; it is also the foundation of a country’s development.”
“In fact, supporting breastfeeding is one of the smartest investments countries can make in the wellbeing of their citizens – and thus, in their own long-term strength. In low-, middle- and high-income countries alike, the benefits for individuals, families, and societies include ending preventable child deaths, improving maternal and child health, boosting educational attainment, and increasing productivity.”
The Lancet, one of the world’s oldest peer-reviewed medical journals, undertook a series Breastfeeding: Achieving The New Normal earlier this year which concluded that improving breastfeeding practices makes the world healthier, smarter, and more equal.
The series highlighted the links between investing in breastfeeding and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) the most obvious being contributing to ending hunger and improving nutrition and health.
According to a joint statement by UNICEF and WHO in conjunction with World Breastfeeding Week Organisation:
“Breastfeeding is one of the keys to reducing under-five mortality.”
Increasing breastfeeding rates (to meet target levels outlined) could save the lives of 820,000 children under 5 every year – 87 per cent of them less than 6 months old. This is approximately 13 percent of all under-five child deaths annually.
According to their findings, breastfeeding also:
- Improves long-term health and decreases the risk of childhood asthma and obesity.
- Can reduce the chance of diabetes and heart disease later in life.
- And was found to protect maternal health, helping to reduce the risk of breast and ovarian cancers.
On the issue of gender equality, the statement highlighted the positive impact breastfeeding can have:
“Exclusive breastfeeding can promote birth-spacing – enabling women to delay subsequent pregnancy and empowering them to exercise greater reproductive autonomy, especially in countries and communities where women have limited access to quality contraceptive information and care. In turn, this can increase the ability of women and girls to return to school, and to work outside the home and better support their families.”
Read the full statement.
