Breastfeeding can prevent 400,000 infant deaths yearly — UN agencies

The United Nations Children’s Fund and the World Health Organisation have disclosed that breastfeeding could prevent almost 400,000 child deaths and around 140,000 maternal deaths yearly.

The bodies explained that scaling up breastfeeding across the globe has significant returns.

They urged countries to strengthen breastfeeding support and health systems to give every child a healthy start in life

The UNICEF Executive Director, Catherine Russell, and the WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, stated this in a joint statement in commemoration of World Breastfeeding Week.

The 2026 World Breastfeeding Week has “Breastfeeding for a Sustainable Start in Life: Strengthen What Works” as its theme.

In the statement, the UNICEF and WHO lamented that many mothers and families around the world still lack access to services and interventions that enable and support breastfeeding.

According to them, breastfeeding is one of the simplest and most powerful ways to protect a child’s health.

“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 noncommunicable diseases such as breast and ovarian cancers, and type 2 diabetes,” the statement said.

The bodies advocated for increased investment in interventions that promote breastfeeding.

“Scaling up breastfeeding could prevent almost 400,000 child deaths and around 140,000 maternal deaths each year.

“Every US$ 1 invested in breastfeeding promotion generates an estimated US$ 59 in economic returns through lower health-care costs, improved cognitive development, higher educational attainment, and increased lifetime earnings,” the statement added.

The UNICEF and WHO, however, added that breastfeeding rates around the world are going up.

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“Exclusive breastfeeding in the first six months rose from around 37 per cent in 2012 to over 47 per cent today.

“In the past five years, the prevalence of breastfeeding up to two years of age rose from 38 per cent to 50 per cent,” they said.

The UNICEF and WHO called on countries to strengthen health systems to provide quality breastfeeding support for mothers and newborns; invest in paid maternity leave and supportive workplace policies, and integrate breastfeeding interventions into antenatal, perinatal, and postnatal health-care services.

“Breastfeeding is vital. By investing in proven solutions, we can give every child the best possible start in life and ensure every mother gets the care and services she needs,” she said.