Abstract
It is July 2024, and I am writing this column about World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) 2024. This week will start on August 1st, but the column will be published in the September Issue. Many of you will think “mustard after the meal.” However, in parts of Europe, WBW is still celebrated in Autumn (this year September 30th–October 6th), as not to interfere with the holiday season when many parents and health care workers are on vacation. So in between these dates (August and October), it is the perfect time to reflect about the importance of this week.
But there is another reason I want to address the WBW once again. We now have the habit of dedicating a day or a week or a month to special topics or target groups. Webinars are given, attention is given in the printed press and in the social media, and perhaps some actions are organized. And afterward? The theme is closed until next year. It is beautiful that a theme or a group is in the picture for one day or one week or one month. And it is not enough. Breastfeeding is here the case in point.
WABA, the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action, is a global network of individuals and organizations dedicated to the protection, promotion, and support of breastfeeding worldwide. It is also the organization that, among other tasks, every year sets the theme of the WBW, in commemoration of the 1990 Innocenti Declaration on the Protection, Promotion and Support of Breastfeeding. Supported by the World Health Organization and the Global Breastfeeding Collective, numerous actions worldwide are undertaken to put breastfeeding for one week in the center of attention of the general public.
As WABA itself writes: “WBW24 is focused on the need to improve breastfeeding support to reduce inequalities that exist in our society, with a special focus on breastfeeding in times of emergencies and crises. Breastfeeding can act as an equalizer in our society and efforts must be made to ensure everyone has access to breastfeeding support and opportunities. It is essential that no-one is left behind especially vulnerable mothers who may need additional support to reduce breastfeeding inequalities.” 1
That these goals are highly needed is obvious—numerous publications make clear that the breastfeeding rates worldwide are suboptimal. 2 And especially in vulnerable populations, there is a wide gap between optimal breastfeeding practices and the reality. 3 Recently, the focus has also been on breastfeeding in emergency situations, where the most vulnerable will suffer most, and where breastfeeding support is highly needed.
The question is: is one week per year enough to close the gap? Is the WBW indeed reaching the target audience of families, health care professionals, and policy makers? Webinars, publications, and activities in this week certainly have their audiences. And some activities do reach out to specific target groups, such as physicians and government institutions. But many activities can also be perceived as “preaching to the choir,” because the information of these activities are often spread by the organizations that are mostly very active in breastfeeding promotion. Attendees are often also already active in breastfeeding promotion and support. It may motivate and galvanize these attendees to contribute to the motto of WBW: closing the gap—breastfeeding support for all.
However, the broader impact of these activities is not clear. Is it worth to concentrate on one week a year, with a title, where even formula companies jump on the bandwagon and use the WBW for their marketing campaigns,4,5 although they are a big part of the problem? 6 Run by mostly good-willed, enthusiastic volunteers, with limited financial support and professional marketing tools, it seems more often like “mopping the floor with the faucet running” (to use the Dutch expression).
The WBW is a wonderful week, and it is not enough. It is absolutely necessary to address the fundamental problems in breastfeeding support, in closing the gap. And this is not done by one breastfeeding week a year. This asks for stringent policies, such as a universal parental leave, as stated in the newly published Protocol of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine, 7 a universal education in breastfeeding medicine for all health care workers, especially physicians, who often are the weakest link, and a collective societal approach, 6 with also interventions to prohibit the aggressive marketing of breast milk substitutes in general and especially to vulnerable populations.
This means putting breastfeeding on the political agenda—not laying the burden on the shoulders of individual parents, as if the choice of (not) breastfeeding is only their personal responsibility. It is nice to see the messages of support of parents to breastfeed their children once a year, during WBW, with visible stories of how individuals feel empowered to do so and with stories of local changes that lead to higher breastfeeding rates.
It is far more important that stakeholders, health care workers, lawmakers, and the industry feel responsible for the support of breastfeeding. So let us celebrate the WBW motto. Not only in August, not only in October, but from January 1st to December 31st as well. And let us keep accountable all who are necessary for closing the gap: health care providers, policy makers, lawmakers, and the industry. Then, and only then, we can close the gap, protecting the most vulnerable populations.