Blog by Dr. Olga Tzortzatou Nanopoulou, SI Representative to the United Nations in Geneva.
Breastfeeding is not only a deeply personal issue, but it’s also a deeply political one. While often framed as a maternal choice, successful breastfeeding depends on systems: from hospitals and policies to training programmes and societal norms. A recent webinar on “Building Healthcare Systems that Truly Support Breastfeeding: New Tools for Sustainable Change” hosted by WHO and UNICEF brought this issue into focus. The webinar highlighted how better tools and policies can transform the way that health systems support women to breastfeed. The webinar opened with the participation of mothers through a video montage of lived experiences, which underscored the barriers they face—from a lack of skilled support to harmful hospital practices. These stories reminded all participants that behind every policy or toolkit lies a woman making decisions in real time, often unassisted.
To address this challenging issue and systemic gaps, WHO and UNICEF developed specific tools aimed at embedding breastfeeding into the very core of health systems. One of them, the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) Monitoring Manual, helps facilities assess how well they implement practices like early initiation and breastfeeding counselling. Another, the Competency Verification Toolkit, ensures that health workers aren’t just trained in breastfeeding but also truly equipped to support breastfeeding throughout pregnancy, birth, and beyond. The third key resource, the updated Model Chapter on Infant and Young Child Feeding, has been designed for use in pre-service education, ensuring that all future health professionals have a strong foundation in breastfeeding knowledge.
The speakers from various countries such as Ecuador, Mexico, Honduras, and Zimbabwe shared their experiences on how they have adapted these tools into tangible national strategies. Their experiences made one thing clear: where governments invest, progress happens. But systemic change requires political will, funding, and accountability—not just good intentions. The speakers reminded us that breastfeeding is not only a health intervention but also a shared societal responsibility and that in emergency cases, it can be a literal lifeline and that women should not be expected to navigate this journey alone.
Feminist movements have long called for recognition of the invisible labour of care, breastfeeding being a part of that labour journey. This webinar shed light on the fact that it’s time we stop expecting women to carry out this journey alone. Real support means equipping health workers, listening to mothers, and embedding care into the system—not just the slogan. The tools presented in this workshop reflect a shift toward care that is competent, continuous, and centred on women’s lived realities. Breastfeeding is one of the smartest and most empowering public health interventions we have. Let’s build systems that treat it that way.
Learn more about the tools at: www.globalbreastfeedingcollective.org
