World Breastfeeding Trends Initiative (WBTi) Launches In Aotearoa New Zealand

WBTI NZ has been launched by a core committee of health professionals with a long term interest in breastfeeding and infant/child/maternal health, and in all aspects of infant and young child feeding. The WBTi is considered a priority action under the National Breastfeeding Strategy for Aotearoa New Zealand - Rautaki Whakamana Whāngote (2020). The National Breastfeeding Strategy was launched in 2020 and developed to support the exclusivity and duration of breastfeeding as a key determinant of public health. Breastfeeding is the most significant and cost-effective way to improve equity and increase the health and wellbeing of a population. Optimal infant feeding requires strong government commitment, leadership, and coordination to enable breastfeeding and to support women to reach their own breastfeeding goals.

The World Breastfeeding Trends initiative (WBTi) Assessment tool was launched by the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN) in 2004 as a way of measuring how effective countries are in terms of implementing the World Health Organization’s Global Strategy for Infant and Young Child Feeding. WBTi indicators highlight areas where effective progress is being made while also showing areas that require attention.

The WBTi envisages that all countries create an enabling environment for women who plan to breastfeed to be successful in breastfeeding their babies optimally at home, in health facilities or at their workplaces. WBTi envisions to serve as a knowledge platform for programme managers, researchers, policy makers, and breastfeeding advocates across the globe.

The mission of WBTi is to reach all countries to facilitate assessment and tracking of infant and young child feeding policies and programmes through mobilising local partnerships without conflicts of interest and building a data repository for advocacy. WBTi is participatory and brings multiple partners together to do simple and local research, build consensus around gaps and find solutions together. 100 countries have now taken part in this initiative.

The Australian WBTi Core Committee have been instrumental in providing generous support on multiple levels to enable us to set up and start working towards a NZ report.

WBTi NZ plan to launch the first Aotearoa New Zealand report this year.

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