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Call for papers - Health benefits of breastfeeding

Guest Editor:
Anna Coutsoudis: University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
 

Submission Status: Open   |   Submission Deadline: 7 May 2024


BMC Public Health is calling for submissions to our Collection on Health benefits of breastfeeding. The World Health Organization recommends initiating breastfeeding within the first hour of birth and continuing to exclusively breastfeed children for their first six months of life, without the introduction of any other foods or liquids, including water. Breast milk contains all the nutritional components that the baby needs for its growth and development. Moreover, breastfeeding has health benefits also for mothers.

New Content ItemThis collection supports and amplifies research related to SDG 3: Good Health & Well-Being.

Meet the Guest Editor

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Anna Coutsoudis: University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Prof Emeritus Anna Coutsoudis is a public health scientist (Pediatrics and Child Health) at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa.  Her primary research interests are breastfeeding protection, promotion and support, human milk banking, and prevention of vertical transmission of HIV.  She is committed to improving maternal and child health in vulnerable communities through empowering strategies and research and has published over 160 papers in peer reviewed journals.  In recognition of her contributions, amongst other awards, she is a recipient of the Science for Society Gold Medal award by the Academy of Science of South Africa.  


About the Collection

BMC Public Health is calling for submissions to our Collection on Health benefits of breastfeeding. 

The World Health Organization recommends initiating breastfeeding within the first hour of birth and continuing to exclusively breastfeed children for their first six months of life, without the introduction of any other foods or liquids, including water. 

The best breastfeeding practice requires that infants are breastfed on demand, which means that mothers are encouraged to feed their babies whenever the baby wants, including during the night hours. This approach helps to keep up the ideal production of milk and synchronize it with the baby’s needs. 

Breast milk contains all the nutritional components that the baby needs for its growth and development, moreover it provides passive humoral immunity thanks to the presence of antibodies, protecting the baby from infections and diseases.  

Breastfeeding has health benefits also for mothers, including a lower risk to develop breast and ovarian cancer but also other types of conditions such as type-2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Other benefits of breastfeeding include strengthening the mother-baby bond, promoting skin to skin contact and the release of prolactin and oxytocin which are associated with lower levels of maternal stress. Finally, breastfeeding straight after giving birth increases the mother's oxytocin levels, promoting the contraction of the uterus and helping it to return to its normal size more quickly and preventing hemorrhage.

In support of Sustainable Development Goal 3- Good Health and Well-Being, BMC Public Health has launched this collection calling for research on the health benefits of breastfeeding. We would particularly welcome submissions addressing but not limited to:

  • The role of breastfeeding in improving health outcomes for children and mothers
  • Breastfeeding promotion interventions
  • Women's perceptions and experiences of breastfeeding
  • The relationship between breastfeeding and the incidence of infant illnesses
  • Factors influencing the practice of exclusive breastfeeding 
  • Socio-economic and environmental factors affecting breastfeeding 
  • Barriers to exclusive breastfeeding


Image credit: [M] Pixel-Shot / Stock.adobe.com

There are currently no articles in this collection.

Submission Guidelines

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This Collection welcomes submission of original Research Articles. Should you wish to submit a different article type, please read our submission guidelines to confirm that type is accepted by the journal. Articles for this Collection should be submitted via our submission system, Snapp. During the submission process you will be asked whether you are submitting to a Collection, please select "Health benefits of breastfeeding" from the dropdown menu.

Articles will undergo the journal’s standard peer-review process and are subject to all of the journal’s standard policies. Articles will be added to the Collection as they are published.

The Editors have no competing interests with the submissions which they handle through the peer review process. The peer review of any submissions for which the Editors have competing interests is handled by another Editorial Board Member who has no competing interests.