Breastfeeding Promotion

A global child health practice that protects, promotes and supports breastfeeding through the policies and procedures of the facilities where babies are born, anchored in the Baby-friendly Hospital Initiative that WHO and UNICEF launched in 1991. The initiative motivates facilities providing maternity and newborn services to implement the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding, a package of institutional policies and procedures, so the intervention works at the level of health facilities and systems rather than through individual advice. WHO states there is substantial evidence that implementing the Ten Steps significantly improves breastfeeding rates. The initiative has been revised and expanded since its launch, and thousands of facilities worldwide have been designated baby-friendly since 1991.