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Breastfeeding is a proven intervention that provides girls and boys the healthiest start in life, as well as a promising future. However, the prevalence of breastfeeding remains low globally, with only 48% of children under six months of age in low- and middle-income countries being exclusively breastfed.

Similarly, an estimated US$341.3 billion is lost worldwide each year due to the unrealized health and human development benefits of breastfeeding.

At the regional level, in Latin America, efforts to increase the prevalence of breastfeeding are important. Particularly in Mexico, improvements have been observed in recent years for the main indicators. During the 2021-2023 period, a prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding of 34.2% in children aged 0-5 months was reported, indicating an increase of 5.9 percentage points compared to the 2018-2019 period (28.3%).

Despite these increases, strengthening efforts are still needed, as breastfeeding outcomes remain below that recommended by International Organizations. In 2012, the World Health Assembly approved the global nutrition target for increasing the prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding in the first 6 months of age to at least 50% by 2025 and, recently, it was extended aiming to increase to at least 70% by 2030.

The Breastfeeding Friendly Country Index (BBF) is an initiative designed to help countries assess their readiness to scale up breastfeeding programs and formulate key recommendations to promote a breastfeeding-friendly environment. To date, BBF has been implemented in different countries and regions of the world. Mexico was one of the first countries where this tool was tested, and it is the first country where it has been implemented four times (see evaluations). BBF Mexico, in its fourth edition (better known as “BBF 2023”), took place during 2023 and the first half of 2024. The BBF 2023 Committee, integrated of representatives from government agencies, civil society organizations, international organizations, and academy, held a series of meetings with the aim of identifying gaps in breastfeeding practices, as well as in the policies and programs implemented in the previous year (2022). Based on this assessment, the Committee developed five key recommendations and concrete actions to improve breastfeeding practices in the country.