World Breastfeeding Week
Next: August 1, 2027
Support for every feeding parent.
The story
Where it comes from
World Breastfeeding Week runs from 1 to 7 August. It marks the Innocenti Declaration, adopted at a WHO and UNICEF meeting in Florence that ended on 1 August 1990, which called on every government to protect, promote and support breastfeeding. The week was the idea of the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA), a global network formed in 1991 and based in Penang, Malaysia. It was first held in 1992, when around 70 countries took part.
How it's celebrated
WABA sets a theme each year and coordinates the campaign, with WHO and UNICEF as partners, and in 2018 the World Health Assembly endorsed the week as a way to promote breastfeeding. Governments, baby-friendly hospitals, milk banks, community groups and families in more than 150 countries join in with talks, support groups and campaigns. Past themes have covered hospitals, the workplace, the marketing code and community support.
Did you know
- At WABA's first meeting, the Malaysian campaigner Anwar Fazal proposed a World Breastfeeding Day; UNICEF's team in New York felt a full week would do more.
- WHO and UNICEF recommend breast milk alone for a baby's first six months, then breastfeeding alongside other foods up to two years or beyond.
- WHO estimates that nearly 400,000 deaths of children under five could be prevented each year if every baby were breastfed that way.
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