The World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) launched its week-long celebration of World Breastfeeding Week last August 1st. One of the highlights of the event is the "Big Latch On" -- in which more than a thousand mothers worldwide will breastfeed simultaneously.
The World's Breastfeeding Week is an annual event that was first launched in 1992 to promote policies that will make it easier for women to breastfeed and work at the same time.
Guy Ryder, director-general of the International Labour Organization, a specialized agency of the U.N., addresses the issue of maternity and protections. "Globally more than 800 million women workers, or 41%, still don't have adequate maternity protection," he said during the celebration of International Women's Day last March 8.
This year's WBW Goals are:
1) To galvanize multi-dimensional support from all sectors to enable women everywhere to work and breastfeed safely and adequately
2) To promote actions by employers to become Family/Parent/Baby and Mother-Friendly, and to actively facilitate and support employed women to continue breastfeeding their children
3) To inform people about the latest in global Maternity Protection entitlements, and raise awareness of the need to strengthen related national legislation and implementation
4) To strengthen, facilitate and showcase supportive practices that enable women working in the informal sector to breastfeed
5) And finally, to engage with target groups (e.g., Trade Unions, Workers Rights Organizations, Human Rights agencies, Women's, Occupational Health, and Youth groups) to protect the breastfeeding rights of women in the workplace
World Breastfeeding Week is celebrated every year from August 1-7 in over 176 countries. WABA selects the theme of WBW in consultation with its partners every year, in order to increase consciousness on the chosen theme and to call for action from the international community. The World Breastfeeding Week website has information in a number of languages and on previous themes.
