World Breastfeeding Week 2026

Strengthening What Works: New Evidence to Accelerate Investment in Breastfeeding

Eugenia Casttillo, a 31-year-old mother of three, breastfeeds her newborn Noemi at Sampaka Hospital in Malabo, the capital of Equatorial Guinea.
UNICEF/UNI973854/Dejongh

A webinar of the Global Breastfeeding Collective

English | Français | Español | العربية | Pусский | 中文 

Breastfeeding is one of the most cost-effective investments a country can make in its people. Yet most governments and donors are not aware of the economic evidence to act on that fact.

For World Breastfeeding Week 2026, the Global Breastfeeding Collective will launch an updated global investment case for breastfeeding, commissioned by WHO and UNICEF and produced by Nutrition International. The findings give policymakers, donors, and advocates a current economic argument for closing the financing gap that can be applied at country level, and point to the interventions with the strongest evidence behind them. 

Join us as we explore:

  • The economic case for investment. An updated global investment case for breastfeeding, built on the Cost of Not Breastfeeding model.
  • What works, and how well. New evidence on the breastfeeding support interventions with the strongest track record, and what scaling them up would take.
  • Country-level perspectives. Speakers from multiple regions will share how the economic case may support domestic policy and funding decisions.

Panel Discussion

Nutrition International will walk through the investment case methodology and findings, followed by a country perspectives panel discussing what the evidence means for policy and investment decisions on the ground.

Who Should Attend

This event is designed for:

  • Government officials working in nutrition, health, finance, and social protection ministries
  • International donors and bilateral development partners
  • UN agencies and multilateral institutions
  • Global Breastfeeding Collective partner organizations and civil society
  • Academic and research communities working on nutrition economics 

Date and Time

Session 1: 

4 August 2026, 08h00 CEST

07:00 London/Lagos

08:00 Geneva/Cape Town

09:00 Nairobi

11:30 New Delhi

13:00 Bangkok

14:00 Beijing/Manila

15:00 Tokyo

16:00 Brisbane 

Simultaneous interpretation will be available in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, and Russian. 


Session 2:

5 August 2026, 17h00 CEST

08:00 Vancouver

09:00 Mexico City

11:00 New York

12:00 Rio de Janeiro

16:00 London/Lagos

18:00 Nairobi 

Simultaneous interpretation will be available in English, French and Spanish.

The Global Breastfeeding Collective is a partnership of more than 20 prominent international agencies, including the World Health Organization and UNICEF, calling on donors, policymakers, philanthropists, and civil society to increase investment in breastfeeding worldwide.