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The Forty-first World Health Assembly,
Having considered the report by the
Director-General on infant and young child nutrition;
Recalling resolutions WHA33.32,
WHA34.22 and WHA39.28
on infant and young child feeding and nutrition, and resolutions
WHA37.18 and WHA39.31 on the prevention and control of
vitamin A deficiency and xerophthalmia, and of iodine
deficiency disorders;
Concerned at continuing decreasing
breastfeeding trends in many countries, and committed
to the identification and elimination of obstacles to
breastfeeding;
Aware that appropriate infant and
young child nutrition could benefit from further broad
national, community and family interventions;
1. COMMENDS governments, women's organizations,
professional associations, consumer and other nongovernmental
groups, and the food industry for their efforts to promote
appropriate infant and young child nutrition, and encourages
them, in cooperation with WHO, to support national efforts
for coordinated nutrition programmes and practical action
at country level to improve the health and nutrition of
women and children;
2. URGES Member States:
(1) to develop or enhance national
nutrition programmes, including multisectoral approaches,
with the objective of improving the health and nutritional
status of their populations, especially that of infants
and young children;
(2) to ensure practices and procedures
that are consistent with the aim and principles of the
International Code of Marketing
of Breastmilk Substitutes, if they have not
already done so;
3. REQUESTS the Director-General to
continue to collaborate with Member States, through WHO
regional offices and in collaboration with other agencies
of the United Nations system, especially FAO and UNICEF:
(1) in identifying and assessing
the main nutrient and dietary problems, developing national
strategies to deal with them, applying these strategies,
and monitoring and evaluating their effectiveness;
(2) in establishing effective nutritional
status surveillance systems in order to ensure that
all the main variables which collectively determine
nutritional status are properly addressed;
(3) in compiling, analysing, managing
and applying information that they have gathered on
the nutritional status of their populations;
(4) in monitoring, together
with other maternal and child health indicators, changes
in the prevalence and duration of full and supplemented
breastfeeding with a view to improving breastfeeding
rates;
(5) in developing recommendations
regarding diet, including timely complementary feeding
and appropriate weaning practices, which are appropriate
to national circumstances;
(6) in providing legal and technical
assistance, upon request from Member States, in
the drafting and/or the implementation of national codes
of marketing of breastmilk substitutes, or other similar
instruments;
(7) in designing and implementing
collaborative studies to assess the impact of measures
taken to promote breastfeeding and child nutrition in
Member States.
May 1988
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