| Each year WABA chooses a theme for World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) that promotes an aspect of the Innocenti Declaration, which aims to create an enabling environment for all mothers to practise breastfeeding. It has also become the main social mobilization event for WABA and its network partners to raise awareness on the implementation of the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes. |
| Co-ordinating WABA's Code Compliance Task Force
through its regional office in Penang, the WBW campaigns have provided IBFAN
with a forum to broaden exposure and awareness on Code issues and give
prominence to the ethical issue of company sponsorship, as health care
facilities and organizations celebrating WBW become targets of companies
seeking to ride on the publicity generated by a global event. Sarah Amin, the Co-Director of WABA, describes WBW as a unique and unifying social mobilization event that builds solidarity among its network participants. WBW, as a strategy, she says, has outreach and advocacy impact beyond WABA's wildest dreams as it involves many individuals, families, organizations, businesses, religious institutions, etc. One of the most important outcomes of the WBW annual celebrations is the regular cooperation that has been founded among national and local breastfeeding groups, UN agencies and governments in promoting breastfeeding. World Breastfeeding Week is celebrated from August 1 to 7 in most countries. In Europe and Canada it is celebrated from October 1 to 7
--Yeong Joo Kean, IBFAN/ ICDC Penang
--World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action World Breastfeeding Week 2000
Breastfeeding is a human right. Human milk is the biological appropriate food during the development of the brain and the immune system in the first two years of life. Beastfeeding can fulfill the child's right to both adequate food and the highest attainable standard of health.
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