1st – 7th August 2025
As World Breastfeeding Week 2025 commenced from 1 to 7 August, the Wellbeing Foundation Africa joined the global community under the theme, “Prioritise Breastfeeding; Create Sustainable Support Systems.” This year’s theme drew attention to the urgent need to ensure that every mother is equipped with the right knowledge, resources, and enabling environments to breastfeed for as long as she chooses. Breastfeeding remains a shared responsibility, one that requires investment in skilled support, the protection of enabling policies, and the creation of systems within homes, healthcare facilities, and workplaces that empower women and promote healthier childhoods.
At the Wellbeing Foundation Africa, we recognise that sustaining breastfeeding practices begins with skilled counselling, trusted information, and consistent community-based education. Through our MamaCare360 antenatal and postnatal education programme, delivered in 1,463 healthcare facilities across Nigeria, we have reached more than 1.22 million mothers while equipping over 2,800 healthcare professionals with breastfeeding competencies aligned with the World Health Organisation’s Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding. Our midwives have continued to provide mothers with expert guidance on exclusive breastfeeding, positioning and latching techniques, and the importance of initiating optimal nutrition within the very first hour of life.
Beyond this, our MamaCare NICUPlus programme has extended specialised lactation support to mothers of premature and low-birthweight infants. Through this intervention, we have supported 3,119 mothers in expressing over 1.37 million millilitres of breastmilk, while also introducing global best practices in colostrum feeding, buccal administration, and infection prevention within Neonatal Intensive Care Units. Complementing this work, our Hygiene Quest programme, delivered in partnership with Dettol Nigeria, continues to safeguard newborn health by equipping mothers with practical knowledge on essential hygiene measures such as effective handwashing and breast hygiene—both of which are indispensable in reducing the risk of infections and improving infant outcomes.
In commemoration of this year’s World Breastfeeding Week, the Foundation reinforced its long-standing commitment to promoting optimal infant and maternal health through our MamaCare360 and NICUPlus programmes. Across Lagos, Kwara, Abuja, Osun, and Cross River States, our midwives led breastfeeding-focused antenatal and postnatal sessions, guiding mothers with evidence-based practices anchored in the principles of respectful maternity care and the trust we have built within communities. These sessions provided safe and informed spaces for mothers to deepen their understanding of exclusive breastfeeding, while strengthening their confidence through practical demonstrations and trusted dialogue.
As part of our holistic approach, mothers were also supported with baby bathtubs and information, education, and communication (IEC) materials designed to reinforce hygienic care practices at home. These efforts reflected our recognition that beyond knowledge, mothers require the tools and confidence to translate best practices into sustainable daily routines.
World Breastfeeding Week 2025 has served as a moment of reflection and recommitment for the Wellbeing Foundation Africa. By continuing to build sustainable support systems and reinforcing the role of skilled midwives in both facility-based and community settings, we remain steadfast in our mission to protect, enable, and empower mothers across Nigeria. Through these collective efforts, we continue to nurture the vision of a healthier future where every mother is supported to breastfeed with confidence and every child is given the strongest possible start in life.