Real‐time evaluation can inform global and regional efforts to improve breastfeeding policies and programmes

The authors Michaud‐Létourneau et al. have identified three main drivers that large initiatives should adopt to enhance their effectiveness in advocacy for policy change: (a) the use of an explicit advocacy approach, (b) the creation of a strategic group of actors, and (c) the realization of 15 critical tasks, more specifically related to implementation of the International Code of Marketing of Breast‐milk Substitutes (the Code) (Michaud‐Létourneau, Gayard, & Pelletier, 2019a, 2019b) and relevant resolutions of the World Health Assembly. Moreover, implementation research (Theobald et al., 2018) can provide valuable insights to policy design and implementation. The real‐time assessment shared in this supplement describes a state‐of‐the art evaluation method of advocacy for policy change by measuring the extent to which policy objectives were achieved, and by identifying drivers and triggers of policy change. Learning was also generated during the implementation period prior to endline evaluations, facilitating timely course correction to ensure interventions are adapted to context and more likely to have an impact. While these drivers have been identified to initiate policy change at the country level, they are also relevant at the global level to facilitate policy change in countries and encourage greater donor investment in breastfeeding programmes. The 2016 Lancet Series on Breastfeeding stressed the need for stronger international leadership to coordinate and stimulate strategic action across countries and identify where investment is needed to protect, promote, and support breastfeeding (McFadden et al., 2016).