(Important Notice: The organizers of this event strongly stipulate that there should be no involvement of milk companies, and companies that produce or market related equipment like bottles, teats and pacifiers and other babyfood products to uphold the international standard of ethics.)

What is the WBW?
The World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) is the greatest outreach vehicle for the breastfeeding movement, being celebrated in over 120 countries. Officially, it is celebrated from  August 1-7. The World Alliance on Breastfeeding Action (WABA), a global network of individuals and organizations concerned with the protection, promotion and support of breastfeeding worldwide conceptualized and popularized the celebration.

SPONSORSHIP:  WABA and the initiators of WBW in the Philippines do not accept sponsorship of any kind from milk companies, related equipment like bottles, teats and pacifiers and other babyfood products. We encourage all participants of World Breastfeeding Week to respect and follow this ethical stance.

World Breastfeeding Week in the Philippines: A Short History
Elvira L. Henares-Esguerra, MD, FPDS, RPh, IBCLC and Nona D. Andaya-Castillo, IBCLC, two International Board Certified Lactation Consultants were able to convince President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to institutionalize the celebration of World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) in the Philippines every August 1-7 through a Presidential Proclamation 1113.

The proclamation was launched in a grand celebration in Malacanang, the official Residential Palace of the Philippine President on August 1, 2005. The event was organized within ten days after a Malacanang dinner of the Henares family with the President, Department of Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque and UNICEF Country Representative Nicholas K. Alipui. It miraculously gathered about 700 people, a record-breaking crowd since the Rizal Hall can only occupy not more than 500 guests.

Many mothers were wearing house dresses and slippers and fathers were in denim pants when they arrived at the gates of Malacanang. The guards promptly refused entry but Dr. Esguerra cajoled them and asked the crowd to pray with her. She told the guards that the affair was for the mothers and babies and the protocol officer let them in.

The Presidential Proclamation specified that the organizers of World Breastfeeding Week celebration from hereon will follow the international standards of ethics set forth by the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA), the initiator of the celebration observed in 120 countries. WABA encourages all organizers of WBW not to co-sponsor any activity with milk companies, related equipment like bottles, teats and pacifiers and other babyfood products.