WHA RESOLUTION
55.25
Infant
and young child nutrition
The
Fifty-fifth World Health Assembly,
Having
considered the draft
global strategy for infant and young-child feeding;
Deeply
concerned about the vast numbers of infants and young children
who are still inappropriately fed and whose nutritional status,
growth and development, health and very survival are thereby
compromised;
Conscious
that every year as much as 55% of infant deaths from diarrhoeal
disease and acute respiratory infections may be the result
of inappropriate feeding practices, that less than 35% of
infants worldwide are exclusively breastfed for even the first
four months of life, and that complementary feeding practices
are frequently ill-timed, inappropriate and unsafe;
Alarmed
at the degree to which inappropriate infant and young-child
feeding practices contribute to the global burden of disease,
including malnutrition and its consequences such as blindness
and mortality due to vitamin A deficiency, impaired psychomotor
development due to iron deficiency and anaemia, irreversible
brain damage as a consequence of iodine deficiency, the massive
impact on morbidity and mortality of protein-energy malnutrition,
and the later-life consequences of childhood obesity;
Recognizing
that infant and young-child mortality can be reduced through
improved nutritional status of women of reproductive age,
especially during pregnancy, and by exclusive breastfeeding
for the first six months of life, and with nutritionally adequate
and safe complementary feeding through introduction of safe
and adequate amounts of indigenous foodstuffs and local foods
while breastfeeding continues up to the age of two years and
beyond;
Mindful
of the challenges posed by the ever-increasing number of people
affected by major emergencies, the HIV/AIDS pandemic, and
the complexities of modern lifestyles coupled with continued
promulgation of inconsistent messages about infant and young-child
feeding;
Aware
that inappropriate feeding practices and their consequences
are major obstacles to sustainable socioeconomic development
and poverty reduction;
Reaffirming
that mothers and babies form an inseparable biological and
social unit, and that the health and nutrition of one cannot
be divorced from the health and nutrition of the other;
Recalling
the Health Assembly's endorsement (resolution WHA33.32),
in their entirety, of the statement and recommendations made
by the joint WHO/UNICEF Meeting on Infant and Young Child
Feeding held in 1979; its adoption of the International Code
of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes (resolution WHA34.22),
in which it stressed that adoption of and adherence to the
Code were a minimum requirement; its welcoming of the Innocenti
Declaration on the protection, Promotion and Support of Breastfeeding
as a basis for international health policy and action (resolution
WHA44.33); its urging encouragement and support for all public
and private health facilities providing maternity services
so that they become "baby-friendly" (resolution
WHA45.34); its urging ratification
and implementation of the Convention
on the Rights of the Child as a vehicle for family health
development (resolution WHA46.27); and its endorsement, in
their entirety, of the World Declaration and Plan of Action
for Nutrition adopted by the International Conference on Nutrition
(resolution WHA46.7);
Recalling
also resolutions WHA35.26, WHA37.30,
WHA39.28, WHA41.11,
WHA43.3, WHA45.34,
WHA46.7, WHA47.5, WHA49.15
and WHA54.2 on infant and young-child
nutrition, appropriate feeding practices and related questions;
Recognizing
the need for comprehensive national policies on infant and
young-child feeding, including guidelines on ensuring appropriate
feeding of infants and young children in exceptionally difficult
circumstances;
Convinced
that it is time for governments to renew their commitment
to protecting and promoting the optimal feeding of infants
and young children,
1. ENDORSES the global
strategy for infant and young-child feeding;
2. URGES Member States,
as a matter of urgency:
(1) to adopt and
implement the global strategy, taking into account national
circumstances, while respecting positive local traditions
and values, as part of their overall nutrition and child-health
policies and programmes, in order to ensure optimal feeding
for all infants and young children, and to reduce the risks
associated with obesity and other forms of malnutrition;
(2) to strengthen
existing, or establish new, structures for implementing the
global strategy through the health and other concerned sectors,
for monitoring and evaluating its effectiveness, and for guiding
resource investment and management to improve infant and young-child
feeding;
(3) to define for
this purpose, consistent with national circumstances:
(a) national
goals and objectives,
(b) a realistic
timeline for their achievement,
(c) measurable
process and output indicators that will permit accurate
monitoring and evaluation of action taken and a rapid response
to identified needs;
(4) to ensure that
the introduction of micronutrient interventions and the marketing
of nutritional supplements do not replace, or undermine support
for the sustainable practice of, exclusive breastfeeding and
optimal complementary feeding;
(5) to mobilize
social and economic resources within society and to engage
them actively in implementing the global strategy and in achieving
its aims and objectives in the spirit of resolutions WHA49.15;
3. CALLS UPON other
international organizations and bodies, in particular ILO, FAO,
UNICEF, UNHCR, UNFPA and UNAIDS, to give high priority, within
their respective mandates and programmes and consistent with
guidelines on conflict of interest, to provision of support
to governments in implementing this global strategy, and invites
donors to provide adequate funding for the necessary measures;
4. REQUESTS the Codex
Alimentarius Commission to continue to give full consideration,
within the framework of its operational mandate, to action it
might take to improve the quality standards of processed foods
for infants and young children and to promote their safe and
proper use at an appropriate age, including through adequate
labelling, consistent with the policy of WHO, in particular
the International Code of Marketing
of Breast-milk Substitutes, resolution WHA54.2,
and other relevant resolutions of the Health Assembly;
5. REQUESTS the Director-General:
(1) to provide
support to Member States, on request, in implementing this
strategy, and in monitoring and evaluating its impact;
(2) to continue,
in the light of the scale and frequency of major emergencies
worldwide, to generate specific information and develop training
materials aimed at ensuring that the feeding requirements
of infants and young children in exceptionally difficult circumstances
are met;
(3) to strengthen
international cooperation with other organizations of the
United Nations system and bilateral development agencies in
promoting appropriate infant and young-child feeding;
(4) to promote
continued cooperation with and among all parties concerned
with implementing the global strategy.
Ninth
plenary meeting, 18 May 2002
A55/VR/9
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