Exclusive breastfeeding through the community action of the “Luces y Sueños” project
Keywords:
Exclusive Breastfeeding, University Extension, Social DeterminantsAbstract
Exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) until six months is one of the most effective and cost-effective public health interventions, with proven benefits for child survival, maternal health, and cognitive development. However, a significant gap persists between scientific evidence and EBF rates globally. This disparity is not an individual failure, but rather the result of an overly biomedical approach that has ignored crucial social determinants, such as commercial pressures, insufficient labor legislation, cultural myths, and a lack of community support. The objective of this research is to argue for the systematic and funded integration of community-based university outreach projects as an indispensable pillar of national EBF promotion strategies. Projects such as "Luces y Sueños" at the University of Medical Sciences of Matanzas represent a paradigm shift: moving from providing information to creating enabling environments through empathetic dialogue that builds trust, debunks myths, and empowers mothers and their families. These interventions, where students act as agents of change, address not only educational barriers but also the need for practical and emotional support, and can even impact structural determinants through advocacy. There is a need to systematically integrate these projects into the academic curriculum and national health strategies, overcoming their seasonality to achieve sustainable impact through ongoing monitoring and rigorous evaluation, thus transforming EBF promotion into a deeply social and community-based practice.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Joel Lima-Castro , Lena Alonso-Triana, David Ruiz-Hernández , Leanis Viltres-Camoira
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