The International
Code of Marketing of Breastmilk
Substitutes...
The “International
Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes” was
developed by the WHO and UNICEF in 1981 in order
to protect breastfeeding. The aim of this Code is to contribute to
the provision of safe and adequate nutrition for
infants, by the protection and promotion
of breastfeeding, and by
ensuring the proper use of breastmilk
substitutes, when these are necessary, on the basis of adequate information
and through appropriate marketing and
distribution.
Some of the basic
rules set out by the Code to regulate harmful
marketing practices
are:
- No
advertising of breastmilk substitutes, feeding
bottles and teats
- No free samples
to mothers;
- No promotion of
products in or through healthcare
facilities;
- No company
personnel to contact mothers;
- No gifts
or personal samples to health workers. Health
workers should never pass samples on to
mothers;
- Labels should
be in an appropriate language and have no words
or pictures idealizing artificial feeding e.g.
pictures of infants on the
labels;
- All information
on artificial infant feeding should clearly
explain the benefits of breastfeeding, warn of
the costs and hazards associated with artificial
feeding;
- Manufacturers
and distributors should comply with the Code
(and all subsequent WHA resolutions) even if
governments have not acted to implement
it.
