3 August 2025, Mogadishu, Somalia – Somalia joins the rest of the world in marking World Breastfeeding Week, held annually from 1–7 August.
This year’s theme, Prioritize Breastfeeding: Create Sustainable Support Systems, recognizes the barriers that breastfeeding mothers face – inadequate support, misinformation and systemic challenges that include a lack of paid time off from work to breastfeed, of parental leave after the baby is born, and inadequate protection from marketing of breastmilk substitutes – and calls on the government, the health system, workplaces and communities to build enduring, equitable frameworks that support breastfeeding mothers and empower families.
Speaking at a commemorative event in Mogadishu this morning, Health Minister Dr Ali Haji Adam noted how breastfeeding delivers lifelong benefits, not just for children but for mothers, families and communities.
“The government is committed to creating sustainable support systems that protect, promote and enable breastfeeding across the country,” he said. “We will continue to implement policies that strengthen maternal health services, train frontline workers, raise awareness and ensure mothers have the support they need at home, in health facilities and the workplace. As we mark World Breastfeeding Week, we reaffirm our promise to build an environment where every mother feels empowered to give her child the healthiest possible start in life.”
“Breastfeeding is one of the most effective ways to give children a healthy start – improving cognitive development, strengthening immunity and protecting both infants and mothers from chronic diseases,” said World Health Organization (WHO) Somalia Deputy Representative Dr Kamil Mohamed. “But mothers cannot do it alone. We must create sustainable support systems through quality health services, family-friendly workplace policies and stronger legal protections against the unethical marketing of breastmilk substitutes.”
Breastfeeding is more than a feeding choice. Fully integrated across policies, health systems, workplaces and communities, it becomes a pillar of sustainable development.
“We owe it to babies, the future generation of citizens, and to ourselves to ensure that they have the best start in life through exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months and continued breastfeeding for up to 2 years,” said United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Representative Sandra Lattouf. “The benefits of breastfeeding outweigh any perceived negatives by a long mile. We need to ensure that every mother, her family and the child are supported throughout their breastfeeding journey with the knowledge, resources and encouragement they need. A healthy and thriving child is an asset for the family and nation.”
A sustainable breastfeeding system requires an all-of-society approach that ensures every mother has the support, environment and resources to breastfeed successfully, from conception through the first 2 years of the child’s life and beyond.
This year, World Breastfeeding Week aims to inform Somali citizens about their role in creating supportive and sustainable environments for breastfeeding. Key objectives include promoting family-friendly workplace policies such as paid maternity leave and breastfeeding breaks, empowering communities through peer support networks and culturally sensitive education and advocating for policies that protect breastfeeding from commercial influence and misinformation.
In Somalia, while 6 in 10 children are breastfed within an hour of birth, just 1 in 3 babies are exclusively breastfed for the first 6 months of life.
A major reason for the low rates of exclusive breastfeeding is the absence of legal measures against the unethical marketing of breastmilk substitutes, which are advertised as an alternative to breastfeeding. Somalia has made minimum progress in adopting the Code of Marketing of Breast Milk Substitutes which restricts the marketing of products intended to replace breastmilk, protecting mothers from commercial influence on their infant feeding choices.
Adoption of the Code of Marketing of Breast Milk Substitutes is part of Somalia’s obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child which it ratified in 2015. Renewed efforts are urgently needed to fully adopt the Code of Marketing and bring Somalia in line with countries that have a comprehensive and enforceable legal framework that protects babies and mothers from the marketing of breastmilk substitutes.
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15 July 2025, Mogadishu, Somalia – The annual World Health Organization (WHO)/United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Estimates of National Immunization Coverage (WUENIC) released today reports that 70% of children in Somalia are fully vaccinated, an increase of 28% between 2012 to 2024, with steady improvements registered across all antigens since 2019. 
Expanding routine immunization coverage in Somalia has long been hampered by ongoing conflict, displacement, inaccessibility and limited health infrastructure. For decades coverage was below 50%, leaving an estimated 1.5 million children missing out on vaccines. It is encouraging to note that through the Big Catch-Up, nearly 700 000 zero-dose children received their first dose of pentavalent vaccine which protects against potentially fatal diseases like diphtheria and whooping cough. 
“Investments and coordinated efforts to strengthen Somalia’s child immunization programme are yielding high results,” said UNICEF Acting Representative in Somalia Nisar Syed. “For example, UNICEF is leading on improving vaccine storage capacity and the ability to keep them at the right temperature. To date, 90% of health facilities providing vaccinations have been equipped with solar-powered refrigeration. Together with the ministries of health, our dedicated partners and resilient health workers, children are being reached with lifesaving vaccines, even in some of the most difficult and hard-to-reach places.” 
30 June 2025, Mogadishu, Somalia – Mothers visited the Hamar Jajab Maternal and Child Health Centre in Banadir region on a hot morning in May, babies cradled in one arm, toddlers clinging to the other, to join the queues of caregivers waiting under the shade of a big tree inside the facility, all hoping to get their children vaccinated.
Mulki Osman Ali, a 26-year-old mother of 2 – a son aged 2 and a daughter just over one-and-a-half years old – was among the mothers present at the health centre in Hamar Jajab. She explained this was the first time her children had the opportunity to receive the PCV and rotavirus vaccines.
Community trust in local health workers is a cornerstone of successful vaccination efforts, in a society where both parents play crucial roles in ensuring children can access health care. 
12 May 2025, Mogadishu, Somalia – As the world marks Immunization Week 2025, a powerful story of innovation and impact is emerging from Somalia’s coastal city of Berbera. Once affected by frequent power outages that jeopardized the delivery of essential health services, Berbera’s hospitals are now running around the clock thanks to newly installed solar battery systems supported by the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSrelief) and WHO Somalia.
Power disruptions once hindered lab tests, delayed diagnoses, and threatened the integrity of vaccines stored in hospital refrigerators. Today, solar power ensures that machines, refrigerators, and air conditioning systems run continuously, supporting accurate diagnostics and consistent immunization services.
“This solar system is available 24/7, making the diagnosing process easier than before by reducing the waiting time at reception,” adds Mursal Ahmed Jama. “That means children and families can be served more efficiently.”
1 May 2025, Mogadishu, Somalia – This week, the Federal Government of Somalia, in collaboration with WHO Somalia, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Gavi and other partners, joined hundreds of countries worldwide to mark World Immunization Week under the theme “Immunization for All is Humanly Possible”.
H.E. Dr Maryama Mohamed Hussein, State Minister of Health and Human Services of the Federal Government of Somalia, addressed the gathering, emphasizing the urgent need to strengthen vaccination efforts to safeguard the future of Somali children. In her speech, she stated: “The Ministry of Health is ready to work with all stakeholders to ensure children are protected fully from vaccine preventable diseases, especially now that we have the vaccines needed to save lives.”
1"A dose of good news this year," said UNICEF advocacy specialist Dr Ubah Farah. "These 2 vaccines will address 2 of the leading causes of death among children under 5 – pneumonia and diarrhoea. UNICEF is pleased to be part of this effort by bringing into the country 2.5 million doses of the pneumococcal vaccine and 1.2 million doses of the rotavirus vaccine. Together with the Ministry of Health and other partners we will facilitate their rollout to communities and ensure they reach every child."