Save the Children remains extremely committed to the protection of infant health as an integral part of our work to realise the rights of the child. We therefore strongly welcome the draft Resolution on infant and young child nutrition as we recognise that it strengthens and endorses, in significant ways, global efforts made by many parties to protect the health of the most vulnerable members of our communities.

First, we strongly endorse the re-emphasis of the need to promote exclusive breastfeeding for about six months. The earlier introduction of complementary foods, particularly when they are contaminated, carries grave risks for children, as indicated by the latest scientific evidence. The dissociation of the WHO secretariat from the 1994 WHA Resolution 47.5 has caused at best confusion and at worst damage in the global policy arena. One consequence has been that the manufacturers of breastmilk substitutes still refuse to acknowledge that food products marketed for children under six months are de facto breastmilk substitutes and therefore fall under the International Code's provisions. This continues to be a major obstacle to the protection of infant health and our hope is that this Resolution will finally, (20 years after the Code's adoption) result in a global public health recommendation which we all, (that is WHO, UNICEF, governments, NGOs and the private sector), work together to realise.

Second, we welcome the endorsement of the International Code and assume that in future subsequent WHA resolutions will receive consistent support from the WHO and UN. Save the Children considers the incorporation and implementation in effective, enforceable national legislation of the Code and relevant Resolutions to be the only sustainable way to ensure that breastfeeding practices are not undermined by corporate venture. Our recent Code monitoring work in Brazil has shown that many companies - primarily multi-nationals - still fail to respect the Code and Resolutions. Stronger efforts to protect the most vulnerable must be supported by governments as we move into the era of globalisation. The specific recognition of internet marketing is also welcome. Recognition of the problem of internet advertising, which inevitably crosses international boundaries, may go some way towards putting pressure on global corporations to recognise that the Code and Resolutions are a global minimum standard rather than a set of recommendations to be applied to developing countries alone.

Third and finally, we welcome the recognition that health claims on the labels of breastmilk substitutes contravene the spirit of the Code. In 1999 the 900 members of the EU NGDO liaison committee called on the European Commission to amend a new Directive on Dietary Foods for Special Medical Purposes (Directive 1999/21/EC). Despite this the Directive was passed and failed to include any of the safeguards of the International Code and Resolutions. The proposed Resolution will greatly assist our efforts to ensure that the provisions of the Code are applied to all breastmilk substitutes and that health workers and parents are not misled by claims, which will inevitably promote breastmilk substitutes.

We see the forthcoming World Health Assembly as an opportunity to be seized by governments to demonstrate a consensus that the rights of mothers and their infants need protection, that this is a critical issue for child survival globally and that this protection can only be afforded by sustainable efforts by all parties. This will surely finally move us beyond the current slow rate of progress to a situation where we are making significant strides towards the protection and promotion of infant health and survival.