Bridging the gaps in infant feeding support to prioritise breastfeeding.
At Anya, we’re joining thousands of people around the world to celebrate World Breastfeeding Week from 1–7 August 2025. This year, the theme is “Prioritise breastfeeding: create sustainable support systems”, a focus that emphasises the need to support parents with breastfeeding in order to realise the positive impact of breastfeeding on the environment and its contribution to mitigating climate change. This mission fully aligns with our aims for the Anya app, which is designed to bridge the gaps in parents’ support systems and provide them with the information, advice and practical skills they need to make informed decisions, overcome challenges and meet their breastfeeding goals.
Since 2016, World Breastfeeding Week has been aligned with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – all 17 of which have affinities with breastfeeding, from health-related targets to climate goals. This partnership recognises that as well as being the biological norm, breastfeeding offers significant benefits not just for the nursing dyad of parent and baby but also for the environment and the global economy. Infant formula has a significant carbon footprint and contributes large amounts of greenhouses gases thanks to the impact of dairy farming, manufacturing, processing, packaging, transportation and preparation methods.
In addition, the formula supply chain uses a large amount of water and contributes to deforestation while exacerbating pollution and landfill waste. In contrast, breast milk is wholly natural and renewable and requires no transportation or packaging. Producing breast milk uses few resources and generates almost no waste or pollution at all. At the same time, breastfeeding improves health outcomes and boosts cognitive development, potentially leading to a healthier, more intelligent global population and therefore a stronger global economy. Furthermore, breastfeeding provides food security for infants – particularly important in times of war or famine – and unlike infant formula does not add to the financial strain on families, thereby contributing to reducing inequalities and mitigating the harmful impact of poverty.
These are just some of the reasons why the World Health Assembly (WHA) has set a global target of a 70% exclusive breastfeeding rate for 2030. Positive progress has already been recorded, with the exclusive breastfeeding rate in 2023 reaching 48%, close to the interim goal of 50% for 2025. And yet there is still a significant amount of work to do if we are to reach this ambitious milestone. Many challenges persist: social and cultural attitudes to breastfeeding can pose an obstacle to improving breastfeeding rates, while limited access to skilled support can mean parents are unable to resolve breastfeeding issues or that they may misinterpret normal infant behaviour as a sign that breastfeeding is not working – often influenced by aggressive commercial formula marketing practices that exploit the anxieties of new parents.
At the national level, policies and regulations often fail to adequately protect breastfeeding parents or to fund the infant feeding support services needed, while economic and financial pressures and unsupportive workplaces add further barriers to continued breastfeeding for many individuals and families. In addition, health systems and maternity services frequently undermine breastfeeding, often due to lack of staff training and failure to comply with WHO and UNICEF’s Baby-Friendly Initiative. Moreover, these challenges disproportionately affect families with a low income and/or limited education, as well as certain ethnic groups.
At Anya, our aim is to provide a solution to some of these challenges by offering reliable, evidence-based infant feeding support that parents can access 24/7. While the WHA targets focus on exclusive breastfeeding, it is important to note that any breastfeeding at all is beneficial, including in combination with formula feeding. The Anya app is therefore designed to support all parents to make an informed decision about how to feed their baby – whether that is through exclusive breastfeeding, combination feeding or formula feeding – by providing accurate information in line with the Baby Friendly Initiative. For those parents who do choose to breastfeed, the app offers practical and emotional support with any challenges that may arise. Our innovative, award winning AI-powered virtual companion allows parents to get reliable answers to their questions or concerns instantly, while webinars, and virtual drop-ins offer a range of opportunities for app users to connect with healthcare professionals. Peer support can also be accessed through the app’s moderated support communities.
In addition, our 3D interactive animation tool LatchAidTM helps parents optimise their breastfeeding positioning and attachment to prevent or address issues such as nipple pain or ineffective milk transfer, which if left unchecked can lead to low milk supply or restricted growth in the infant, and ultimately to parents ending their breastfeeding journey before they are ready.
One of the core principles promoted by World Breastfeeding Week is the “Warm Chain of Support for Breastfeeding”. This concept places the mother/parent-baby dyad at the centre and aims to link all the different actors with an influence over their breastfeeding journey – from midwives to employers – over the first 1,000 days in order to provide a continuum of care. The Anya app is designed to perfectly complement the Warm Chain of Support by accompanying parents on their parenting journey from conception to toddlerhood.
It has been commissioned by NHS trusts, children’s community services, and local authorities across the UK and beyond, ensuring a consistent approach in these areas and bridging any gaps in the services available. Anya also partners with employers in the private sector to support their staff with women’s health, wellbeing and parenting. This means working parents benefit both from in-app support, and from their colleagues’ increased understanding of the challenges they may be facing. This also means further continuity of breastfeeding support when parents return to work, meaning they are more likely to meet the WHO recommendation that breastfeeding should continue for two years or more.
It is evident that breastfeeding offers profound benefits for both people and the planet. If we are to achieve the WHA’s ambitious targets for increasing breastfeeding rates, we need to join forces across governments, health services, employers and the community to truly promote and support breastfeeding for all. We believe the Anya app is an invaluable tool for parents that combines technological innovation with human expertise and empathy to offer a reliable, evidence-based source of information, learning and advice. Through our partnerships in both the public and private sectors, we aim to bridge gaps in the services available to breastfeeding families by contributing to the sustainable support systems around them and making breastfeeding a real priority.