Exclusive breastfeeding: celebrating successes and accelerating progress by 2030

Organizers: The webinar is hosted by WHO, UNICEF, and SUN Movement

Background

Breastfeeding is a crucial practice for infants’ health and development, providing essential nutrition and immunity that protects against infections, diarrheal diseases, and respiratory ailments. Exclusive breastfeeding during the first six months of life has the greatest potential to reduce child mortality and is linked to decreased risk of obesity and non-communicable diseases later in life. Supporting breastfeeding can also prevent chronic diseases in mothers, reducing health risks like type II diabetes and certain cancers. In addition to health gains, exclusive breastfeeding provides considerable economic returns, with every dollar invested yielding $35 in benefits.

Join us in celebrating that the 2025 Global Nutrition Target for exclusive breastfeeding will be met! And introducing accelerated efforts to continue the positive trends to 2030.

However, while the target will be met, major challenges still persist. This session will address barriers to breastfeeding, from inadequate workplace policies to aggressive formula marketing. The session will explore key actions needed to create supportive environments for mothers, ultimately advancing Sustainable Development Goals on health, education, and environmental sustainability.

The webinar aims to: 

• Highlight the current progress and identify barriers to achieving the Global Nutrition Targets on exclusive breastfeeding by 2025.
• Present the suggested extension of the WHA Global Nutrition Targets to align with the 2030 agenda.
• Showcase best practice examples from countries to inspire others in their journey to commitment-making.
• Focus attention on high-impact interventions needed to improve exclusive breastfeeding.
• Describe key resources that countries can use to address exclusive breastfeeding relevant to the scope of the Paris Nutrition for Growth Summit and the SUN Global Gathering in 2025.

Agenda 

Moderator: Grainne Moloney, UNICEF

15:00 – 15:03: Welcome

15:05 – 15:10  Opening remarks, Jeniece Alvey, USAID

15:10 – 15:20: Why exclusive breastfeeding is a major priority, Fatmata Fatima Sesay, UNICEF

15:20 – 15:35: Charting the way forward to 2030, Laurence Grummer-Strawn, WHO

15:35 – 15:50: Country examples, Farhan Mohamed, Somalia and Salima Al-Mamary, Oman

15:50 – 16:25: Panel Discussion and Q&A

16:25 – 16:30: Closing remarks

Languages

The webinars will be simultaneously interpreted in Arabic, English, French, Portuguese, Spanish, and Russian.