The International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN) in partnership with the Department of Health, Government of Republic of South Africa, proudly hosts the Second World Breastfeeding Conference (WBC) 2016 in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The Conference will call for committed action and provide a platform for breastfeeding  advocates, governments, scientists, civil society organisations, UN agencies, international organizations, research institutions, public interest groups, and other stakeholders to discuss and share experiences. It will provide opportunity to review the global investment promises for maternal, infant and young child nutrition in light of resolutions from the 65th World Health Assembly of 2012, and to generate ideas for further resource mobilization and/or
strengthening of interventions.

The conference will also address breastfeeding in a human rights framework, emphasizing women’s rights, children’s rights, the right to food and nutrition, and maternity protection. Furthermore, the conference will raise awareness on progress so far made in improving breastfeeding rates, which has occurred at different speeds in many countries – both developed and developing. It will raise awareness on a number of challenges that continue to arise in the promotion, protection and support of breastfeeding and other IYCF interventions due to funding, structural, policy and political environment.

The need to invest in IYCF is even more crucial now as the global community has ended the MDG era and has agreed on a new framework, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The conference will justify the need for governments to develop well-costed national plans on breastfeeding and MIYCN and allocate appropriate human, institutional and financial resources to effectively implement, monitor and report on such plans within the SDG framework.

The conference will further provide an opportunity to raise awareness about the need to invest in breastfeeding as a practical solution towards protecting the environment and
protecting mothers and children against the effects of climate change.