Concern Worldwide Kenya and RACIDA have joined global efforts to mark World Breastfeeding Week 2025 with a powerful campaign across Mandera County, urging communities to prioritize breastfeeding by building sustainable support systems.
The initiative, implemented under the Irish Aid-funded Hanaano programme, focuses on addressing malnutrition across the Mandera Triangle, a region spanning Kenya, Ethiopia, and Somalia.
In collaboration with government and health officials, the organizations led a series of public engagements and marches to raise awareness about the vital role breastfeeding plays in child survival, particularly in arid and resource-scarce areas like Mandera.
The campaign carried a strong message: sustainable breastfeeding support must become a priority through stronger policies, supportive work environments, and positive cultural practices.
Despite a global rise in exclusive breastfeeding rates, now at 48% for the first six months of life, many mothers continue to face significant barriers to continuing breastfeeding beyond infancy.
These include limited access to counselling, unsupportive workplaces, and entrenched cultural beliefs that undermine maternal health choices.
The Hanaano programme is working to bridge these gaps by promoting localized breastfeeding counselling, climate-smart infant feeding practices, and greater involvement from fathers, clan elders, employers, and health workers.
According to Concern Worldwide Kenya, the programme emphasizes that when all sectors of society rally behind breastfeeding mothers, infants receive a healthier start to life and communities grow stronger and more resilient.
Through its World Breastfeeding Week activities, Hanaano continues to spotlight the importance of collective responsibility and long-term support for breastfeeding, not just as a health intervention, but as a cornerstone of community well-being and resilience in one of the most food- and climate-insecure regions in the Horn of Africa.