Mapping a Decade of Breastfeeding Research in Malaysia: Trends, Gaps, and Advocacy Implications

Scaling up breastfeeding at the universal level can help save the lives of up to 823,000 babies as well preventing breast cancer among 20,000 mothers annually. Its benefits are positively linked with improved child development, national productivity and environmental sustainability. On the other hand, despite the huge benefits of breastfeeding to mankind, breastfeeding is still at a low level, and only 44% of babies globally and 47.1% in Malaysia are exclusively breastfed. Support from various stakeholders is needed to promote breastfeeding continuously. This effort has to be supported by data and evidence to ensure advocacy-level transformation. In Malaysia, a lack of data on some important aspects of breastfeeding has been reported in NHMS III (2006) and World Breastfeeding Trends Initiative (WBTi) (2015). Hence this paper aims to highlight the status of breastfeeding-related research conducted in Malaysia and further instigate broader research in the future. The article search was done between 19 and 24 November 2022 using three (3) electronic databases- Scopus, PubMed and Directory of Open Access Journal (DOAJ). Four (4) key phrases were used to search for articles: ‘Breastfeeding in Malaysia’, ‘Baby Friendly Hospital’, ‘Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes’ and ‘Right to Breastfeed’. A total of 48 articles were identified and analyzed based on various themes. This study showed a positive trend in local breastfeeding-related research. However, there are still some domains of breastfeeding advocacy that lack research and evidence.