WHA RESOLUTION
47.5
Infant and young child nutrition
The Forty-seventh World Health Assembly,
Having considered the report by
the Director-General on infant and young child nutrition;
Recalling resolutions WHA33.32,
WHA34.22, WHA35.26,
WHA37.30, WHA39.28,
WHA41.11, WHA43.3,
WHA45.34 and WHA46.7
concerning infant and young child nutrition, appropriate
feeding practices and related questions;
Reaffirming its support for all
these resolutions and reiterating the recommendations
to Member States contained therein;
Bearing in mind the superiority
of breast-milk as the biological norm for nourishing
infants, and that a deviation from this norm is associated
with increased risks to the health of infants and mothers;
1. THANKS the Director-General for
his report;
2. URGES Member States to take the
following measures:
(1) to promote sound infant and
young child nutrition, in keeping with their commitment
to the World Declaration for Nutrition,(1)
through coherent effective intersectoral action,
including:
(a) increasing awareness among
health personnel, nongovernmental organizations,
communities and the general public of the importance
of breast-feeding and its superiority to any other
infant feeding method;
(b) supporting mothers in their
choice to breast-feed by removing obstacles and
preventing interference that they may face in health
services, the workplace, or the community;
(c) ensuring that all health
personnel concerned are trained in appropriate infant
and young child feeding practices, including the
application of the principles laid down in the joint
WHO/UNICEF statement on breast-feeding and the role
of maternity services;(2)
(d) fostering appropriate complementary
feeding practices from the age of about six months,
emphasizing continued breast-feeding and frequent
feeding with safe and adequate amounts of local
foods;
(2) to ensure that there are no
donations of free or subsidized supplies of breast-milk
substitutes and other products covered by the International
Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes in
any part of the health care system;
(3) to exercise extreme caution
when planning, implementing or supporting emergency
relief operations, by protecting, promoting and
supporting breast-feeding for infants, and ensuring
that donated supplies of breast-milk substitutes or
other products covered by the scope of the International
Code be given only if all the following conditions
apply:
(a) infants have to be fed on
breast-milk substitutes, as outlined in the guidelines
concerning the main health and socioeconomic circumstances
in which infants have to be fed on breast-milk substitutes;(3)
(b) the supply is continued
for as long as the infants concerned need it;
(c) the supply is not used as
a sales inducement;
(4) to inform the labour sector,
and employers' and workers' organizations, about the
multiple benefits of breast-feeding for infants and
mothers, and the implications for maternity protection
in the workplace;
3. REQUESTS the Director-General:
(1) to use his good offices for
cooperation with all parties concerned in giving effect
to this and related resolutions of the Health Assemby
in their entirety;
(2) to complete development of
a comprehensive global approach and programme of action
to strengthen national capacities for improving infant
and young child feeding practices; including the development
of methods and criteria for national assessment of
breast-feeding trends and practices;
(3) to support Member States,
at their request, in monitoring infant and young child
feeding practices and trends in health facilities
and households, in keeping with new standard breast-feeding
indicators;
(4) to urge Member States to initiate
the Baby-friendly
Hospital Initiative and to support them, at their
request, in implementing this Initiative, particularly
in their efforts to improve educational curricula
and in-service training for all health and administrative
personnel concerned;
(5) to increase and strengthen
support to Member States, at their request, in giving
effect to the principles and aim of the International
Code and all relevant resolutions, and to advise Member
States on a framework which they may use in monitoring
their application, as appropriate to national circumstances;
(6) to develop, in consultation
with other concerned parties and as part of WHO's
normative function, guiding principles for the use
in emergency situations of breast-milk substitutes
or other products covered by the International Code
which the competent authorities in Member States may
use, in the light of national circumstances, to ensure
the optimal infant-feeding conditions;
(7) to complete, in cooperation
with selected research institutions, collection of
revised reference data and the preparation of guidelines
for their use and interpretation, for assessing the
growth of breast-fed infants;
(8) to seek additional technical
and financial resources for intensifying WHO's support
to Member States in infant feeding and in the implementation
of the International Code and subsequent relevant
resolutions.
9 May 1994
References:
1. World
Declaration and Plan of Action for Nutrition. FAO/WHO,
International Conference on Nutrition, Rome, December
1992.
2. Protecting,
promoting and supporting breast-feeding: the special
role of maternity services. A joint WHO/UNICEF statement.
Geneva, World Health Organization, 1989.
3. Document
WHA39/1986/REC/1,Annex 6, part 2.
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