Investing in Breastfeeding Saves Lives and Money

About

This is the Collective's investment case for scaling up breastfeeding support. Drawing on the Cost of Not Breastfeeding Tool, it sets out the health and economic returns of proven interventions — including breastfeeding counselling, the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative, maternity protection, mass media campaigns, and enforcement of the International Code of Marketing of Breast-Milk Substitutes — and shows why faster, better-financed action is needed to meet the 2030 exclusive breastfeeding target.

Failing to invest in breastfeeding carries a steep cost: an estimated US$339 billion in global economic losses every year, alongside preventable child and maternal deaths, lost years of education, and unrealized cognitive potential. Scaling up a package of evidence-based interventions to 75% coverage in high-burden countries could avert up to 263,000 child deaths and generate as much as US$357 billion in economic benefits over the next decade — returns of up to $59 for every $1 invested. The brief sets out six priorities — Protect, Deliver, Enable, Finance, Scale, and Partner — for governments, donors, and partners to close the breastfeeding financing and implementation gap.

Author(s)
Nutrition International, in collaboration with WHO and UNICEF, for the Global Breastfeeding Collective

Publication date
July 2026

Languages
English