Infant and young child feeding

In 2002, WHO and UNICEF jointly endorsed the "Global Strategy for Infant and Young Child Feeding" to focus world attention on the impact that feeding practices have on the nutritional status, growth and development, health, and thus the very survival of infants and young children. The Global Strategy renewed commitment to continuing joint action consistent with the Baby-friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI), the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes, and the Innocenti Declaration on the Protection, Promotion and Support of Breastfeeding. In the scope of the Global Strategy, countries are urged to formulate, implement, monitor and evaluate a comprehensive national policy on infant and young child feeding. This includes ensuring sufficient maternity leave to promote exclusive breastfeeding.

Appropriate infant and young child feeding practices include:

  • exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months;
  • timely initiation of nutritionally adequate and safe complementary foods while continuing breastfeeding up to 2 years or beyond; and
  • appropriate feeding of infants and young children living in especially difficult circumstances (low-birth-weight infants, infants of HIV-positive mothers, infants in emergency situations, malnourished infants, etc.)

There is evidence that appropriate infant and young child feeding is among the most effective preventive actions for reducing under-five mortality. Promotion of breastfeeding ranked first, and improved complementary feeding, administration of zinc and vitamin A were also described as important ways to prevent deaths. Infants are particularly vulnerable during the transition period when complementary feeding begins. Ensuring that their nutritional needs are met thus requires that complementary foods be timely, adequate (i.e. they provide sufficient energy, protein and micronutrients to meet a growing child’s nutritional needs), safe, and properly fed. Appropriate complementary feeding depends on accurate information and skilled support from the family, community and health care system. A summary of the IYCF situation in the Region is available from the Nutrition Unit.

The Baby-friendly Hospital Initiative, launched in 1991, is the primary intervention strategy that Member States can use to strengthen the capacity of national health systems to protect and promote breastfeeding, since childbirth takes place in hospitals in the majority of cases for most countries. To become baby-friendly, a hospital needs to implement the "Ten steps to successful breast-feeding" set out in the WHO/UNICEF statement on breastfeeding and maternity service. A summary of the situation of the BFHI in the region is available in Table 1.

The International Code of Marketing of Breast milk Substitutes is considered as a minimum requirement to protect healthy infant and young child feeding practices. The International Code of Marketing of Breast milk Substitutes (the Code) aims to contribute to the provision of safe and adequate nutrition for infants, by protecting and promoting breastfeeding and ensuring the proper use of breast milk substitutes, when these are necessary. A summary on the status of implementation of the Code in the region is available in Table 2.

With more and more women engaged in the work force either paid or unpaid, legislation is needed to ensure that mothers are able to exclusive breastfeeding their children. The Convention on Maternity Protection No. 183 (2000) ensured a length of maternity leave of a minimum of 14 weeks for all women, including those in atypical forms of dependent work, such as domestic work for wages in private households.