WORLD BREASTFEEDING WEEK (Coordinated by WABA) 1-7 August 2015

This World Breastfeeding Week, WABA calls for concerted
global action to support women to combine breastfeeding
and work. Whether a woman is working in the formal, non-
formal or home setting, it is necessary that she is
empowered in claiming her and her baby’s right to
breastfeed.
The WBW 2015
theme on working
women and
breastfeeding
revisits the 1993
WBW campaign on
the Mother-Friendly
Workplace Initiative.
Much has been
achieved in 22 years of global action supporting women in
combining breastfeeding and work, particularly the adoption
of the revised ILO Convention 183 on Maternity Protection
with much stronger maternity entitlements, and more
country actions on improving national laws and practices.
At the workplace level, we have also seen more actions
taken to set up breastfeeding or mother-friendly workplaces
including awards for breastfeeding-friendly employers, as
well as greater mass awareness on working women’s rights
to breastfeed.
The Innocenti Declaration (1990) recognised that
breastfeeding provides ideal nutrition for infants and
contributes to their healthy growth and development. There
is much that remains to be done despite 25 years of hard
work, particularly on the fourth Innocenti target that calls on
governments to “…enact imaginative legislation protecting
the breastfeeding rights of working women and establish
means for its enforcement”.
WABA calls for:
concerted global action to support women to combine
breastfeeding and work, whether in the formal sector, non-
formal sector, or at home
ratification and implementation of maternity protection laws
and regulations by governments, in line with the ILO
Maternity Protection Convention
inclusion of breastfeeding target indicators in the
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
With the WBW 2015
campaign, WABA
and its partners at
global, regional and
national levels aim to
empower and
support ALL women,
working in both the
formal and informal
sectors, to
adequately combine work with child-rearing, particularly
breastfeeding. (We define work in its broadest form from
paid employment, self-employment, seasonal and contract
work to unpaid home and care work).
Various strategies exist to support women working in your
country or community from long-term actions to short-term
actions. Together, we can make it work!
Here are a few ideas to kick off your WBW 2015 planning
process:

The WABA Coordinated World Breastfeeding Week is part of
the gBICS (Global Breastfeeding Initiative for Child Survival)
Programme entitled: "Enhancing Breastfeeding Rates
Contributes to Women's Rights, Health, and a Sustainable
Environment". The gBICS Programme aims to contribute to
the achievement of sustainable development - beyond the
Millennium Development Goals - by scaling up breastfeeding
and infant and young child interventions and transforming
Policies into Practice which contributes to efforts aimed at
addressing climate change and gender inequality in the
framework of human rights. WABA is grateful to NORAD
(the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation) for its
support of gBICS.
WABA would also like to acknowledge the support of the
United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and World Health
Organisation (WHO), as well as the participation of our Core
Partners - Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine (ABM),
International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN),
International Lactation Consultant Association (ILCA), La
Leche League International (LLLI), and Wellstart
International - in the successful coordination of World
Breastfeeding Week.