Breastfeeding for health: A global human right

Purpose:

Breastfeeding is generally viewed as an infant nutrition issue; it can equally be viewed as a women's issue in both the health and political contexts. Lack of breastfeeding is associated with increased health risks for women and therefore support for each woman to succeed in breastfeeding could be considered as a women's right to health. In addition the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child confirms that every child has the right to the best start on life, and that all parents should be informed of the importance of breastfeeding. This presentation will explore these concepts in light of women's health and rights, and will consider who and what entities are responsible for the health of the next generation.

Data and Methods: The approaches taken by global institutions, health practitioners, and national decision-makers are reviewed in light of universal rights constructs.

Major Findings: Breastfeeding is part of the reproductive continuum and, as such, should be protected under reproductive rights approaches. Given that breastfeeding is also a public health imperative, and a women's responsibility, rights and socio-ecological constructs both require community and political support to enable women to understand the importance of breastfeeding for her and her child's health and to succeed in breastfeeding. Finally, the ultimate responsibility for enabling women to breastfeed lies at the national level in the global rights construct, and therefore failure to breastfeed is not a woman's “failure” but a national failure with life-threatening consequences.