Breastfeeding at a glance
- Breast milk contains a wide range of nutrients and components that babies need, including natural antibodies, living immune cells, enzymes and omega-3 fatty acids, which enhance immunity and support healthy growth of babies
- Over 820,000 children’s lives worldwide could be saved each year by scaling up breastfeeding to a near universal level
- Diarrhoea episodes could be avoided by 50% by breastfeeding
- For every 12 months of breastfeeding, a woman’s risk of invasive breast cancer was reduced by 4.3%
