Major global policies and declarations supporting breastfeeding

World Health Organization (WHO)/United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes (1981)

Limited the influence of commercial marketing on infant-feeding decisions made by women.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989)

Adopted by the General Assembly of the UN. Obliged governments to take appropriate measures to ensure that the advantages of breastfeeding can be put into practice.

The Innocenti Declaration on the Protection, Promotion and Support of Breastfeeding  (1990)

Pronounced that all women should be enabled to practice exclusive and continued breastfeeding

The Plan of Action adopted at the World Summit for Children (1990)

Advocated the “empowerment of all women to breastfeed their children exclusively for four to six months and to continue breast-feeding, along with complementary food, well into the second year”.

The World Declaration and Plan of Action for Nutrition (1992)

Pledged “to reduce substantially within this decade … social and other impediments to optimal breastfeeding”.

The International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo (1994)

Recognized breastfeeding as an important strategy for child survival.

The Beijing Platform for Action (1995)

Called for the promotion of breastfeeding, the implementation of the International Code (1981) and the facilitation of breastfeeding by working women.

The World Fit for Children report from the UN General Assembly Special Session on Children (2000)

Agreed to “protect, promote, and support exclusive breastfeeding of infants for six months and continued breastfeeding with safe, appropriate and adequate complementary feeding for up to two years of age or beyond”.

The WHO/UNICEF Global Strategy for Infant and Young Child Feeding (2002)

Added emphasis on the need for a comprehensive response (that is, a coordinated, multi-sectoral national response by all concerned parties to the numerous challenges of infant and young child feeding) and added a degree of urgency for implementation.