WBW 2012 – Understanding the Past: Planning the Future

ABM is pleased to be supporting and participating in activities in celebration of the 20th World Breastfeeding Week. This annual event is celebrated during the first week in August to commemorate the signing of the Innocenti Declaration, August 1990.

This year, World Breastfeeding Week, or World Breastfeeding Month in several countries, is celebrated in August. As noted on the World Breastfeeding Week website: “20 years ago, the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) launched its first World Breastfeeding Week campaign with the theme: Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI).”

This year the theme is Understanding the Past: Planning the Future – Celebrating 10 years of WHO/UNICEF’s Global Strategy for Infant and Young Child Feeding.  We are asked to recall what has happened in efforts to support infant and young child feeding over these past 20 years, celebrate successes and achievements, assess the status of implementation of the Global Strategy, call for action to bridge the remaining gaps in policy and programmes, and draw public attention on the state of policy and programmes.

Many countries adopt complementary themes.  For example, in the US August is National Breastfeeding Month, this year adopting a social marketing theme:  “Everyone Can Help Make Breastfeeding Easier”: 20 Actions in 20 Days, based on the 20 Actions in the Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Support Breastfeeding.

Wishing you all a happy – and productive – World Breastfeeding Week!

Don’t forget to register for the 17th Annual International Meeting to be held October 11-14, 2012 in Chicago. Early-bird rates end August 15.