Indicators at a glance … Indicator ONE

National Policy, Governance and Funding

Key questions: Is there a national breastfeeding/ infant and young child feeding policy that protects, promotes and supports optimal breastfeeding and infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices? Is the policy supported by a government programme? Is there a plan to implement this policy? Is sufficient funding provided? Is there a mechanism to coordinate like e.g. National breastfeeding committee and a coordinator for the committee?

Breastfeeding protection, promotion and support is complex and requires policies and programs in hospitals, homes, workplaces and the community, education of health professionals and families, and regular surveys to measure outcomes. These different policy areas must mesh together like cogs in a gearbox, otherwise progress in breastfeeding comes to a grinding halt, or is patchy and unfair.

The 2023 WBTiAUS report shows that Australia lacks this crucial policy coordination and dedicated resources. Indicator 1, which assesses national policy, governance and funding, scored 1.5 out of 10, which was largely unchanged from the previous assessment in 2018. The Australian National Breastfeeding Strategy: 2019 and Beyond, is an excellent policy on paper, but does not have a built-in plan for its implementation with targets, dates and budgets.

 Four important aspects of governance that are mentioned in Indicator one do not receive any “yes” scores. These include ….Australia lacks a National Breastfeeding Committee to oversee all the policies areas in the strategy, and which is independent of industry, transparent and accountable to the public.

These issues of Governance may seem far removed from  a mother’s day-to-day decisions about feeding her baby, but without policy leadership and dollars, Australian families miss out on the support they need to reach their breastfeeding goals. We need to ask for these policy resources in federal budgets.