Nurturing the Future: Strengthening Lactation Support Services in Pakistan-A Call to Action

According to WHO, only 48.4% of Pakistani infants under 6 months are exclusively breastfed, well below the global target of 60% by 2030 [1]. Early feeding practices remain suboptimal; only about 20% of infants are breastfed within the first hour of birth, and nearly half are never fed colostrum [2]. This deficit contributes annually to an estimated 33,700 preventable child deaths, 6.6 million cases of diarrhea, and 2.7 million lost school years, as reported in the Global Health Cost of Not Breastfeeding analysis [3]. Pakistan also spends over US $888 million per year on breastmilk substitutes, a figure further underscored by updated WHO commentary on the economic burden of low breastfeeding rates [4].