Breastfeeding is one of the smartest investments a country can make to build its future prosperity. It offers children unparalleled health and brain-building benefits.

Globally, nearly 600,000 children and nearly 100,000 women die each year due to inadequate breastfeeding. These preventable deaths, combined with cognitive losses, and health system costs of inadequate breastfeeding leads to over $340 billion in economic losses annually.

Investing in Child Nutrition is a free, publicly available online course designed to provide guidance, skills, and practical information to health workers to promote, protect, and support breastfeeding and com

This technical brief highlights key factors that influence newborn nutritional outcomes and the evidence-based practices that can be applied globally to support optimal infant nutrition within the first 28 days.

Nigeria has recently made progress toward strengthening policies and programs in support of maternal, infant and young child nutrition (MIYCN). However, progress has been limited to specific states—and creating strong plans for implementation of new policies remains a challenge.

This brief summarize the global research on breastfeeding and its implications for Nigeria. The benefits of breastfeeding go beyond individual health. Breastfeeding impacts the country’s social and economic development and has implications for reaching national and global health targets.