In plain words
The International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes is a set of recommendations adopted by the World Health Assembly in 1981. It sets limits on how companies advertise and promote infant formula and related products. The code asks that health workers not promote these products, and that companies not give free samples or gifts to mothers. It is about marketing, not about whether a mother feeds her baby one way or another. The code is the basis for many national rules. Some countries have laws to enforce it, and others use it as guidance. It was written to protect breastfeeding by limiting pressure from marketing. Choosing formula does not break the code, which applies to companies and health systems.
The deeper version
The Code, adopted by the World Health Assembly in 1981 as a recommendation, restricts advertising and promotion of breast-milk substitutes, including infant formula, follow-on formula, and feeding bottles. It bans free samples to mothers and gifts to health workers. Later Assembly resolutions elaborated and updated it, and the WHO and UNICEF Global Strategy for Infant and Young Child Feeding (2003) placed it within a wider framework. Compliance is measured through national monitoring, and enforcement is uneven across countries. Research on its effects is mostly observational, examining breastfeeding rates and marketing exposure. Critics argue that its reach into health systems and social messaging has framed formula feeding as a problem, while supporters argue that marketing undermines breastfeeding.
Where it comes up
- Feeding choices and guiltFeeding Your Baby
- Formula feeding: choosing, preparing, and doing it wellFeeding Your Baby
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Sources
- World Health Organization — International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes, adopted 1981
- World Health Organization and UNICEF — Global Strategy for Infant and Young Child Feeding, 2003