A group of researchers is urging many countries including the Kingdom of Bahrain to update breastfeeding indicators as it is important to protect and evaluate the progress of breastfeeding promotion efforts. According to researchers associated with Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the last time Bahrain updated its breastfeeding indicators was in the year 2002 and since then there have been no surveys or infant data studies related to this.

The Kingdom’s neighbours including Kuwait, Oman and Saudi Arabia last carried out a survey on breastfeeding indicators in the year 2017, offering valuable insights into the matter, which helps in devising the right strategies. “Seventy-one percent of the countries had updated their indicators since 2015, and 16 per cent have collected breastfeeding indicators for more than two decades. Updates were conducted annually, every three or five to nine years