Reaching the Global Target to Increase Exclusive Breastfeeding: How Much Will It Cost and How Can We Pay for It?

Abstract

There is an urgent need for global action to increase the rates of exclusive breastfeeding. In 2012, the World Health Assembly (WHA) set a global target to increase the rate of exclusive breastfeeding in the first 6 months up to at least 50% by 2025. However, current investment levels are insufficient to drive the kind of progress that is needed to meet the target. Reaching the global nutrition target of increasing exclusive breastfeeding to 50% will require an average annual investment of $570 million over 10 years in addition to what is currently being spent. This investment is projected to result in an additional 105 million children being exclusively breastfed and at least 520,000 child deaths prevented over the next 10 years. This analysis was part of an investment framework developed by the World Bank, Results for Development Institute, and 1,000 Days to provide policy makers with a roadmap for how to reach four of the six WHA global nutrition targets: decreasing childhood stunting, decreasing childhood wasting, decreasing rates of anemia in women of reproductive age, and increasing exclusive breastfeeding in the first 6 months.