The Fifty-fourth World Health Assembly,

Recalling resolutions WHA33.32, WHA34.22, WHA35.26, WHA37.30, WHA39.28, WHA41.11, WHA43.3, WHA45.34, WHA46.7, WHA47.5 and WHA49.15 on infant and young child nutrition, appropriate feeding practices and related questions;

Deeply concerned to improve infant and young child nutrition and to alleviate all forms of malnutrition in the world because more than one-third of under-five children are still malnourished - whether stunted, wasted, or deficient in iodine, vitamin A, iron or other micronutrients - and because malnutrition still contributes to nearly half of the 10.5 million deaths each year among preschool children worldwide;

Deeply alarmed that malnutrition of infants and young children remains one of the most severe global public health problems, at once a major cause and consequence of poverty, deprivation, food insecurity and social inequality, and that malnutrition is a cause not only of increased vulnerability to infection and other diseases, including growth retardation, but also of intellectual, mental, social and developmental handicap, and of increased risk of disease throughout childhood, adolescence and adult life;

Recognizing the right of everyone to have access to safe and nutritious food, consistent with the right to adequate food and the fundamental right of everyone to be free from hunger, and that every effort should be made with a view to achieving progressively the full realization of this right;

Acknowledging the need for all sectors of society - including governments, civil society, health professional associations, nongovernmental organizations, commercial enterprises and international bodes - to contribute to improved nutrition for infants and young children by using every possible means at their disposal, especially by fostering optimal feeding practices, incorporating a comprehensive, holistic and strategic approach;

Noting the guidance of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, in particular Article 24, which recognizes, inter alia, the need for access to and availability of both support and information concerning the use of basic knowledge of child health and nutrition, and the advantages of breastfeeding for all segments of society, in particular parents and children;

Conscious that despite the fact that the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes and relevant, subsequent Health Assembly resolutions state that there should be no advertising or other forms of promotion of products within its scope, new modern communication methods, including electronic means, are currently increasingly being used to promote such products; and conscious of the need for the Codex Alimentarius Commission to take the International Code and subsequent relevant Health Assembly resolutions into consideration in dealing with health claims in the development of food standards and guidelines;

Mindful that 2001 marks the twentieth anniversary of the adoption of the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes, and that the adoption of this resolution provides an opportunity to reinforce the International Code's fundamental role in protecting, promoting and supporting breastfeeding;

Recognizing that there is a sound scientific basis for policy decisions to reinforce activities of Member States and those of WHO; for proposing new and innovative approaches to monitoring growth and improving nutrition; for promoting improved breastfeeding and complementary feeding practices, and sound culture-specific counselling; for improving the nutritional status of women of reproductive age, especially during and after pregnancy; for alleviating all forms of malnutrition; and for providing guidance on feeding practices for infants of mothers who are HIV-positive;

Noting the need for effective systems for assessing the magnitude and geographical distribution of all forms of malnutrition, together with their consequences and contributing factors, and of foodborne diseases; and for monitoring food security;

Welcoming the efforts made by WHO, in close collaboration with UNICEF and other international partners, to develop a comprehensive global strategy for infant and young child feeding, and to use the ACC Sub-Committee on Nutrition as an interagency forum for coordination and exchange of information in this connection;

1. THANKS the Director-General for the progress report on the development of a new global strategy for infant and young child feeding;

2. URGES Member States:

(1) to recognize the right of everyone to have access to safe and nutritious food, consistent with the right to adequate food and the fundamental right of everyone to be free from hunger, and that every effort should be made with a view to achieving progressively the full realization of this right and to call on all sectors of society to cooperate in efforts to improve the nutrition of infants and young children;

(2) to take necessary measures as States Parties effectively to implement the Convention on the Rights of the Child, in order to ensure every child's right to the highest attainable standard of health and health care;

(3) to set up or strengthen interinstitutional and intersectoral discussion forums with all stakeholders in order to reach national consensus on strategies and policies including reinforcing, in collaboration with ILO, policies that support breastfeeding by working women, in order substantially to improve infant and young child feeding and to develop participatory mechanisms for establishing and implementing specific nutrition programmes and projects aimed at new initiatives and innovative approaches;

(4) to strengthen activities and develop new approaches to protect, promote and support exclusive breastfeeding [during the first 4 to 6 months of life][for about 6 months], (note 2) and to provide safe and appropriate complementary foods, with continued breastfeeding for up to two years of age or beyond, emphasizing channels of social dissemination of these concepts in order to lead communities to adhere to these practices;

(5) to support the Baby-friendly Hospital Initiative and to create mechanisms, including regulations, legislation or other measures, designed, directly and indirectly, to support periodic reassessment of hospitals, and to ensure maintenance of standards and the Initiative's long-term sustainability and credibility;

(6) to improve complementary foods and feeding practices by ensuring sound and culture-specific nutrition counselling to mothers of young children, recommending the widest possible use of indigenous nutrient-rich foodstuffs; and to give priority to the development and dissemination of guidelines on nutrition of children under two years of age, to the training of health workers and community leaders on this subject, and to the integration of these messages into health and nutrition information, education and communication strategies;


(7) to strengthen monitoring of growth and improvement of nutrition, focusing on community-based strategies, and to strive to ensure that all malnourished children, whether in a community or hospital setting, are correctly diagnosed and treated;


(8) to develop, implement or strengthen sustainable measures, including where appropriate, legislative measures, aimed at reducing all forms of malnutrition in young children and women of reproductive age, especially iron, vitamin A and iodine deficiencies, through a combination of strategies that include supplementation, food fortification and diet diversification, through recommended feeding practices that are culture-specific and based on local foods as well as through other community-based approaches;

(9) to strengthen national mechanisms to ensure global compliance with the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes and subsequent relevant Health Assembly resolutions, with regard to labelling as well as all forms of advertising, and commercial promotion in all types of media, to encourage the Codex Alimentarius Commission to take the International Code and relevant subsequent Health Assembly resolutions into consideration in developing its standards and guidelines; and to inform the general public on progress in implementing the Code and subsequent relevant Health Assembly resolutions;

(10) to recognize and assess the available scientific evidence on the balance of risk of HIV transmission through breastfeeding compared with the risk of not breastfeeding, and the need for independent research in this connection; to strive to ensure adequate nutrition of infants of HIV-positive mothers; to increase accessibility to voluntary and confidential counselling and testing so as to facilitate the provision of information and informed decision-making; and to recognize that when replacement feeding is acceptable, feasible, affordable, sustainable and safe, avoidance of all breastfeeding by HIV-positive women is recommended; that, otherwise, exclusive breastfeeding is recommended during the first months of life; and that those who choose other options should be encouraged to use them free from commercial influences;

(11) to take all necessary measures to protect all women from the risk of HIV infection, especially during pregnancy and lactation;

(12) to strengthen their information systems, together with their epidemiological surveillance systems, in order to assess the magnitude and geographical distribution of malnutrition, in all its forms, and foodborne disease;

3. REQUESTS the Director-General:

   (1) to give greater emphasis to infant and young child nutrition, in view of WHO's leadership in public health, consistent with and guided by the Convention on the Rights of the Child and other relevant human rights instruments, in partnership with ILO, FAO, UNICEF, UNFPA and other competent organizations both within and outside the United Nations system;

   (2) to foster, with all relevant sectors of society, a constructive and transparent dialogue in order to monitor progress towards implementation of the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes and subsequent relevant Health Assembly resolutions, in an independent manner and free from commercial influence, and to provide support to Member States in their efforts to monitor implementation of the Code;

   (3) to provide support to Member States in the identification, implementation and evaluation of innovative approaches to improving infant and young child feeding, emphasizing exclusive breastfeeding [during the first 4 to 6 months of life][for about 6 months] (note 2), and the provision of safe and appropriate complementary foods, with continued breastfeeding up to two years of age or beyond, and the emphasis on community-based and cross-sector activities;

   (4) to continue the step-by-step country- and region-based approach to developing the new global strategy on infant and young child feeding, and to involve the international health and development community, in particular UNICEF, and other stakeholders as appropriate;

   (5) to encourage and support further independent research on HIV transmission through breastfeeding and other measures to improve the nutritional status of mothers and children already affected by HIV/AIDS;

   (6) to submit the global strategy for consideration to the Executive Board at its 109th session in January 2002 and to the Fifty-fifth World Health Assembly (May 2002).

Note 1: Document EB107/3

Note 2: The final text in square brackets will be decided in the light of the outcome of the systematic review of the scientific literature, a global peer review, and the conclusions and recommendations of an expert consultation (Geneva, 28-30 March).