The World Breastfeeding Week takes place every year from the 1st to the 7th of August, commemorating the date the Innocenti Declaration was signed by the WHO, UNICEF and other organizations and policy-makers in 1990.
The WHO recommends that babies are exclusively breastfed until they are six months old and, if possible, continue to be breastfed until they are two years old. This is currently not achieved, as less than half of babies are breastfed until the age of six months.
Not only does breastfeeding improve children's health, but it also improves mothers' health—decreasing their risk of developing several illnesses, such as breast cancer, ovarian cancer, or type 2 diabetes. Furthermore, it is also key to providing food security and reducing inequalities.
The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted mothers' education and support for breastfeeding. In this spirit, Frontiers is launching a new article collection to coincide with world breastfeeding week. This occasion not only offers an opportunity to acknowledge the benefits of breastfeeding but also to consider the importance of supportive policies that need to be put in place by governments, health systems, workplaces and communities to encourage it.
This Frontiers in Public Health Research Topic addresses the public-health-specific dimensions of breastfeeding week. Topics may include, but are by no means limited to:
- The knowledge and awareness of the importance of breastfeeding in different parts of the world
- Public health policies that have been shown to promote breastfeeding
- The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on breastfeeding support and education
- The impact of COVID-19 vaccinations and breastfeeding rates
- Breast-feeding after C-sections
- The public health nutrition impact of breastfeeding
- The influence of the mother's diet when breastfeeding
The World Breastfeeding Week takes place every year from the 1st to the 7th of August, commemorating the date the Innocenti Declaration was signed by the WHO, UNICEF and other organizations and policy-makers in 1990.
The WHO recommends that babies are exclusively breastfed until they are six months old and, if possible, continue to be breastfed until they are two years old. This is currently not achieved, as less than half of babies are breastfed until the age of six months.
Not only does breastfeeding improve children's health, but it also improves mothers' health—decreasing their risk of developing several illnesses, such as breast cancer, ovarian cancer, or type 2 diabetes. Furthermore, it is also key to providing food security and reducing inequalities.
The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted mothers' education and support for breastfeeding. In this spirit, Frontiers is launching a new article collection to coincide with world breastfeeding week. This occasion not only offers an opportunity to acknowledge the benefits of breastfeeding but also to consider the importance of supportive policies that need to be put in place by governments, health systems, workplaces and communities to encourage it.
This Frontiers in Public Health Research Topic addresses the public-health-specific dimensions of breastfeeding week. Topics may include, but are by no means limited to:
- The knowledge and awareness of the importance of breastfeeding in different parts of the world
- Public health policies that have been shown to promote breastfeeding
- The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on breastfeeding support and education
- The impact of COVID-19 vaccinations and breastfeeding rates
- Breast-feeding after C-sections
- The public health nutrition impact of breastfeeding
- The influence of the mother's diet when breastfeeding
