The Professional Board for Dietetics and Nutrition (PBDN), within the ambit of the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) is commemorating World Breastfeeding Week from 01 – 07 August 2025. This is in accordance with South Africa’s Health Awareness Calendar. This year’s theme is ‘Prioritise Breastfeeding, Create Sustainable Support Systems’ and is celebrated to encourage breastfeeding and improve the health of babies around the world. The protection, promotion and support of breastfeeding has been repeatedly identified as a key public health and nutrition strategy that is essential for maternal health and child survival. According to Article 24 (2) (e) of the Convention on the Rights of a Child, governments should ensure that all segments of society, in particular parents and children, are informed, have access to education, and are supported with the use of basic knowledge of child health and nutrition, including the advantages of breastfeeding.
The crucial role of breastfeeding in the optimisation of maternal and child health and nutrition was enshrined from 1990 through the adoption of the Innocenti Declaration for the protection, promotion, and support of breastfeeding. In 2012, the World Health Assembly Resolution 65.6, endorsed a comprehensive implementation plan on maternal, infant and young child nutrition which specified a set of six global nutrition targets that should be met by 2025. One of the nutrition targets was to increase the rate of exclusive breastfeeding in the first six months up to at least 50% by 2025.
There is still a lot that needs to be done in South Africa to improve the rate of exclusive breastfeeding and to meet global targets. Recent data shows that in South Africa, 44% of infants were exclusively breastfed at 14 weeks in 2021/22, down from 49% in 2019/20. According to the 2024 Human Sciences Research Council report, by the age of six months, only 20% of infants were exclusively breastfed in South Africa, while the global rate of exclusive breastfeeding is 48%. The exclusive breastfeeding rates in the first six months of life in South Africa are far below the global target of 50% by 2025 and the revised global target of 70% by 2030.
Breastfeeding benefits extend beyond health and nutrition as it also plays a role in sustainable development.
The Board would like to share the following messages in line with the World Breastfeeding Week theme for 2025:
- Breastfeeding is a natural, renewable food that is environmentally safe.
- Breastfeeding is produced and delivered without pollution, packaging or waste and is the sustainable solution that is good for the planet and its people.
- Prioritising and supporting breastfeeding will reduce the growing climate impact of artificial infant feed supply chains.
- Breastfeeding can be challenging when parents are not fully supported.
The Professional Board for Dietetics and Nutrition encourages all South Africans to take action in creating a supportive environment for the maintenance and preservation of breastfeeding.
Last Updated on 31 July 2025 by HPCSA Corporate Affairs