Exclusive breastfeeding (a diet of breast milk only with no other liquids or solids—not even water) for the first six months of a child’s life is one of the most important interventions to ensure a child’s survival, healthy growth and development. An exclusively breastfed baby is 14 times less likely to die in the first six months than a non-breastfed child. (Lancet 2008).Breastmilk is free of charge and universally available, even in very resource-constrained settings, yet fewer than 40% of babies in the developing world are exclusively breastfed. World Vision supports the global goal of increasing the prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding to 50% by 2025. 

World Breastfeeding Week is being celebrated from 1–7 August 2016 in more than 176 countries by more than 1.5 million individuals, with this year’s theme celebrating the links between breastfeeding and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs are 17 goals that act as a blueprint for global commitment and action towards equitable development. 

For World Vision, World Breastfeeding Week celebrations highlight our ongoing efforts to protect, promote and breastfeeding as a key intervention in addressing malnutrition.

Read World Vision’s Op-Ed on Balancing Work and Family Life 

Understand how World Vision supports breastfeeding.

Learn about World Vision's Mother Baby Friendly Office movement.

Learn Key Facts About Breastfeeding and access additional useful resources

Check out the World Breastfeeding Week website.

The World Breastfeeding Week Action Folder provides additional information

Nutrition at the Heart of the SDGs Infographic (Sight & Life) 

Global Targets Breastfeeding Infographic (WHO)

Watch videos that show World Vision's work with breastfeeding in Tanzania, with refugee mothers in Uganda, and see staff championing breastfeeding in the Philippines.

Scroll through the breastfeeding photo gallery from the Philippines