Every year from 1 to 7 August World Breastfeeding Week is being celebrated in over 120 countries aiming to protect, promote and support breastfeeding to improve child health, empower mothers and build strong support systems worldwide.
This year (2026) the week is marked under the theme “Breastfeeding for a sustainable start in life: strengthen what works,” urging all the concerned including the governments to build on successful experiences and strengthen the “Warm Chain of Support” for breastfeeding.
“Many mothers and families around the world still lack access to services and interventions that enable and support breastfeeding,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell and WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a joint statement.
“Yet breastfeeding is one of the simplest and most powerful ways to protect a child’s health. It provides infants and young children with essential nutrition, increases immunity, helps protect against serious illness, and supports cognitive development.”
“For mothers, breastfeeding brings important health benefits too, helping reduce the risk of non-communicable diseases such as breast and ovarian cancers, and type 2 diabetes,” the statement reads.
Encouragingly, breastfeeding rates around the world are going up. Scaling up breastfeeding could prevent almost 400,000 child deaths and around 140,000 maternal deaths each year.
Breastfeeding is vital. Every US $1 invested in breastfeeding promotion generates an estimated US $59 in economic returns through lower health-care costs, improved cognitive development, higher educational attainment, and increased lifetime earnings.
