Kenya’s exclusive breastfeeding rate has slipped from 61% to 60%, raising fresh concerns among public health officials ahead of World Breastfeeding Week 2025. The drop, though marginal, highlights growing challenges faced by mothers in sustaining exclusive breastfeeding through the first six months of their infants’ lives.
Health experts have linked the decline to limited maternal health education, deep-rooted cultural beliefs, and the absence of dedicated spaces for lactating mothers in workplaces.
The Ministry of Health, through its Division of Nutrition and Dietetics Services, has renewed its push to reverse the trend. The current national target stands at 80%.
Ahead of the annual World Breastfeeding Week set for August 1 to 7 the Ministry is urging employers to set up more lactation stations and prioritize supportive policies for mothers returning from maternity leave.
“Breastfeeding must be protected across all levels at home, in hospitals, and at the workplace,” a senior official at the Ministry stated during a sensitization meeting. “Mothers should not be forced to choose between earning a living and feeding their babies.”
This year’s World Breastfeeding Week is themed “Prioritize Breastfeeding: Create Sustainable Support Systems.” The focus is on building coordinated, long-term backing for mothers across families, communities, and institutional settings.
Breastfeeding is not just essential for nutrition it saves lives. According to The Lancet’s 2016 data, breastfeeding prevents an estimated 823,000 deaths globally each year among children under five. Among infants younger than six months, 87% of those saved are due to exclusive breastfeeding.
Further analysis shows that breastfeeding reduces infection-related deaths by 88% among infants under three months. It also lowers the risk of diarrhea and respiratory infections by 54% and 32%, respectively.
Beyond child health, breastfeeding benefits women. It reduces the risk of obesity and certain non-communicable diseases in children and cuts the risk of breast cancer in mothers.
Both the World Health Organization and UNICEF advise initiating breastfeeding within the first hour of birth. They recommend exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months and continued breastfeeding alongside complementary feeding for up to two years or more.
Health officials say meeting these goals will require sustained efforts from every sector. Without adequate workplace and community support, they warn, progress could stall further.
Kenya now faces a critical question: will the country invest enough in systems that let mothers do what science and tradition have long shown is best for children breastfeed?
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