Breastfeeding: a winning goal for life
Vlad Gansovsky/Fotolia
We must make it a priority to ensure that women are supported in their choice to breastfeed, so that it becomes the norm in our Region.
Zsuzsanna Jakab, WHO Regional Director for Europe
The WHO European Region has one of the lowest average proportions in the world of children who are exclusively breastfed at 6 months of age.
“Breastfeeding is the best start a newborn baby can have. It helps prevent childhood obesity and chronic diseases later in life, and research suggests that it improves brain development. In several parts of the Region, levels of breastfeeding are extremely low. We must make it a priority to ensure that women are supported in their choice to breastfeed, so that it becomes the norm in our Region,” says Zsuzsanna Jakab, WHO Regional Director for Europe.
During World Breastfeeding Week, 1–7 August 2014, WHO and its partners underline the importance of sustaining and increasing the protection, promotion and support of breastfeeding both before and after the 2015 deadline for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). MDG 4 focuses on reducing child mortality by such means as promoting breastfeeding.
“Breastfeeding is the best start a newborn baby can have. It helps prevent childhood obesity and chronic diseases later in life, and research suggests that it improves brain development. In several parts of the Region, levels of breastfeeding are extremely low. We must make it a priority to ensure that women are supported in their choice to breastfeed, so that it becomes the norm in our Region,” says Zsuzsanna Jakab, WHO Regional Director for Europe.
During World Breastfeeding Week, 1–7 August 2014, WHO and its partners underline the importance of sustaining and increasing the protection, promotion and support of breastfeeding both before and after the 2015 deadline for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). MDG 4 focuses on reducing child mortality by such means as promoting breastfeeding.
