Despite increasing evidence about the value and importance of breastfeeding, less than half of the world's infants and young children (aged 0–36 months) are breastfed as recommended. This Series paper examines the social, political, and economic reasons for this problem.

Guidance documents from 33 countries on newborn care for infants whose mothers are diagnosed with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 were assessed for alignment with WHO recommendations, revealing considerable inconsistencies.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, policy makers and practitioners must learn from mistakes made during the HIV pandemic, when breastfeeding was undermined through isolating infants from their mothers, and formula feeding resulted in more infant deaths than the disease.

Not breastfeeding leads to more than half a million child deaths annually and costs the world economy up to US$1 billion a day.

This overview paper summarizes and builds on papers from the Stop Stunting Conference of 2014, advocating to focus on child feeding, women's nutrition, and household sanitation as investment areas to prevent child stunting in South Asia.