Black Breastfeeding Week announces a special theme for its 10th anniversary

This year marks the 10th year of Black Breastfeeding Week and the organisers have announced the theme for 2022.

BBW 2022: 10 Years, A New Foundation

Each year Black Breastfeeding Week carries its own theme and the theme for 2022 will be ‘A New Foundation’.

Speaking about the meaning of this year’s theme, the organisers said: “For #BBW22, we’re celebrating the countless stories and families- past, present & future. We’ve shifted the narrative/optics, supported and uplifted each other…and it’s still just the beginning. The new foundation of lactation support is built on racial equity, cultural empowerment, and community engagement and is powered by our collective resilience.”

For #BBW22, we’re celebrating the countless stories and families- past, present & future. We’ve shifted the narrative/optics, supported and uplifted each other…and it’s still just the beginning.

What is Black Breastfeeding Week?

Black Breastfeeding Week is a yearly worldwide campaign founded in 2012 by breastfeeding advocates Kimberly Seals Allers, Kiddada Green and Anayah Sangodele-Ayoka.

Breastfeeding is one of the best investments for saving lives and improving the health, social and economic development of individuals and nations. In the US and in other parts of the world breastfeeding rates amongst black people are lower than their white counterparts. The most recent CDC data show that 75% of white women have ever breastfed versus 58.9% of black women. The Black Breastfeeding Week campaign serves to help reduce these racial disparities by raising awareness of the benefits of breastfeeding amongst black communities.

Speaking on the boobingit podcast last year, co-founder Kimberly Seals Allers explained the need for Black Breastfeeding Week: “We wanted to create a movement, to spark a revolution in reclaiming black breastfeeding. Certainly here in the US breastfeeding was something black women did before they were brought to this country and enslaved.”