Too many mothers and families around the world still lack access to services and interventions that enable and support breastfeeding. Yet breastfeeding is one of the simplest and most powerful ways to protect a child’s health, said the World Health Organization. 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.
Encouragingly, breastfeeding rates are rising around the world — showing that sustained investments in policies and programmes for mothers and families are working. Yet progress remains uneven, with many countries lagging behind global targets. Coverage of services supporting breastfeeding remains low, policies are inconsistently enforced, and service quality is often inadequate, especially in low-income, fragile, and humanitarian settings, the WHO said.
The evidence is clear: cost-effective interventions include skilled breastfeeding support in health systems, community-based counselling, maternity protection policies, and protection from the exploitative marketing of commercial milk formulas, the UN health agency said.
Published on August 10, 2026
