The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) promoted breastfeeding as the cheapest and most effective life-saver for children, kicking off World Breastfeeding Week by calling for "essential" strong leadership to promote the practice.

"There is no other single health intervention that has such a high impact for babies and mothers as breastfeeding and which costs so little for Governments," said UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Geeta Rao Gupta. "Breastfeeding is a baby's 'first immunization' and the most effective and inexpensive life-saver ever."

UNICEF reports that less than half of all children under six months benefit from exclusive breastfeeding.

According to UNICEF, breastfeeding helps a child's survival.

"Children who are exclusively breastfed are 14 times more likely to survive the first six months of life than non-breastfed children," UNICEF said in a press release posted on their website.

Also, starting breastfeeding in the first day after birth "can reduce the risk of new-born death by up to 45 per cent."

Breastfeeding also has long-term benefits, such as aiding in a child's ability to learn and helping to prevent obesity and chronic diseases later in life. Recent studies in the United States and United Kingdom show that breastfed children fall ill much less often than non-breastfed children, UNICEF reports.

Mothers can also benefit from breastfeeding their child. Mothers who breastfeed exclusively are "less likely to become pregnant in the first six months following delivery, recover faster from giving birth, and return to their pre-pregnancy weight sooner."

UNICEF also reports that mothers who breastfeed are less likely to experience post-partum depression and also have a lower risk of ovarian and breast cancers later in life.

Unfortunately, only 39 per cent of children aged less than six months were exclusively breastfed in 2012 worldwide, according to UNICEF. The reasons for this include the general lack of a supportive environment for breastfeeding mothers in some countries where the practice of breastfeeding is very low.

World Breastfeeding Week is celebrated annually from 1 to 7 August in more than 170 countries to encourage breastfeeding and improve the health of babies around the world, AllAfrica.com reports. It commemorates the Innocenti Declaration made by UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO) in August 1990 to protect, promote and support breastfeeding.