World Breastfeeding Week 2025, celebrated between August 1 and 7, brought together global efforts coordinated by the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA), the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Ministries of Health, and civil society. This year’s central theme is “Prioritize Breastfeeding: Create sustainable support systems”.
World Breastfeeding Week 2025 calls on society as a whole to view breastfeeding as a collective action supported by policies, health systems, work environments, and community networks. It is not just a mother’s choice, but a decision that has an impact on public health, equity, sustainability, and human development. In Brazil, the initiative is part of Golden August, a month created by Federal Law No. 13 435/2017 to mobilize society in favor of promoting, protecting, and encouraging breastfeeding.
This year’s event highlights the urgency of strengthening support systems at all levels, from primary care to family and work environments, so that breastfeeding can be a sustainable and effectively supported choice. The campaign also reinforces the global goal of achieving 70% exclusive breastfeeding in the first six months of life by 2030, a goal set at the 78th World Health Assembly held in May this year.
Among the actions promoted, WHO and UNICEF call on governments to invest in:
- Quality maternal and childcare with support for breastfeeding;
- Training health professionals in breastfeeding counseling;
- Increasing national budgets for breastfeeding programs;
- Enforcement of the International Marketing Code of Breast milk substitutes;
- Providing continued support for breastfeeding mothers for up to two years after giving birth; and
- Strengthening community care structures.
As highlighted by international agencies, robust evidence shows that investing in breastfeeding is not only a sensible public health measure: every dollar invested can generate up to US$35 in economic returns.
BIREME, as the PAHO/WHO Specialized Center on Information for Action in Health, provides a Breastfeeding Window of Knowledge with documents, guidelines, and strategies relevant to promoting and supporting the practice. In addition, the multilingual thesaurus Health Sciences Descriptors – DeCS contains descriptors related to the topic – such as “breastfeeding” and “human milk” – that facilitate access to qualified scientific and technical content.