Breastmilk Substitutes Call to Action – The Road to Code Compliance

The health, nutrition and well-being of women and infants worldwide is a global concern and public health imperative.

Breastfeeding in line with global recommendations is vital to making progress as it provides health benefits to both women and children.

With this in mind, nearly 40 years ago, the World Health Assembly adopted the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes to prevent the inappropriate and misleading marketing of baby formula, toddler (or growing-up) milks and other breastmilk substitutes, so that women could make decisions regarding breastfeeding based on sound information without undue and misleading influence. Numerous subsequent resolutions have clarified and added to the original provisions, collectively now referred to as “the Code.”

Today, additional strides must be made ensure that the Code is complied with in policy and practice in service of the health of women and children around the world.

Call to Action

In order to help ensure that all infants and young children worldwide are optimally breastfed and eat a healthy diet, eight civil society organizations and United Nations (UN) agencies call on all manufacturers of breastmilk substitutes (BMS) to take outlined steps to achieve Code compliance.

Access resources about the Call to Action and the Code:

• A statement from all signatories, with an additional statement from the NGOs echoing this statement, which also provides detail on the responses by each company
• A separate summary of company responses
• Additional resources