40th ANNIVERSARY OF THE CODE

Celebrating 40 years of the International Code of the Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes In 1981, the World Health Assembly adopted the Code, aimed at eliminating inappropriate and harmful marketing of breastmilk substitute products. Join a global webinar to celebrate the anniversary and use our social media toolkit to share the news. Read more.

COVID-19 RESPONSE

Capitalizing on fears, companies promote breastmilk substitutes during the pandemic Manufacturers of breastmilk substitutes (BMS) are capitalizing on COVID-19 fears by using health claims and misinformation about breastfeeding to deceive millions of breastfeeding mothers into using breastmilk substitutes, a new Alive & Thrive study shows. Read more.

IN THE NEWS

New materials support efforts to promote exclusive breastfeeding in Burkina Faso A set of new counseling cards for health workers and scripts to be broadcast on community radio are helping facilitate conversations about the importance of exclusive breastfeeding in communities across Burkina Faso, using insights from Alive & Thrive and UNICEF research about why caregivers give babies water during the first six months of life. Read more.

In Abidjan health facilities, violations of the BMS Code are prevalent, study shows Manufacturers of breastmilk substitutes are routinely violating rules on the marketing of their products, regularly promoting them to health workers and mothers at health facilities across Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, according to a new Alive & Thrive-supported study employing aspects of the WHO NetCode protocol. Read more.

Baby-Friendly Initiative guidelines finalized in Nigeria New national guidelines on implementing the baby friendly initiative in Nigeria are close to final after a two-year effort led by the Federal Ministry of Health with support from Alive & Thrive and UNICEF. Read more.

Laos approves implementation guidelines for the newly adopted national Code The Ministry of Health in Laos has adopted new implementation guidelines for the country’s National Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes with support from Alive & Thrive and UNICEF. Read more.

Cambodian inspectors trained to spot illegal promotion of breastmilk substitutes as testing reveals misinformation on products More than 100 inspectors from 20 of Cambodia’s 25 provinces received training on monitoring violations of the International Code of the Marketing of Breastmilk Substitute with technical assistance from Helen Keller International (HKI) and Alive & Thrive. Read more.

NEW RESEARCH, DATASETS, & RESOURCES

People-Driven Design: Innovating for stunting reduction in Indonesia English Bhaasa Implementing the Breast-Milk Substitutes Act in Bangladesh: Guidance for company owners, media and health administrators Guidance for company owners Guidance for the media Guidance for health administrators

Stronger With Breastmilk Only Resources Catalog  English French New Datasets We've added six new datasets to our data collection, based on surveys conducted in Bangladesh and Viet Nam in 2017. Explore our data

Community support model on breastfeeding and complementary feeding practices in remote areas in Vietnam: implementation, cost, and effectiveness. Tuan T. Nguyen, Nemat Hajeebhoy, Jia Li, Chung T. Do, Roger Mathisen & Edward A. Frongillo. International Journal for Equity in Health The yearly financing need of providing paid maternity leave in the informal sector in Indonesia. Adiatma Y. M. Siregar, Pipit Pitriyan, Donny Hardiawan, Paul Zambrano, Mireya Vilar-Compte, et al. International Breastfeeding Journal  Old Tricks, New Opportunities: How Companies Violate the International Code of Marketing of Breast-Milk Substitutes and Undermine Maternal and Child Health during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Constance Ching, Paul Zambrano, Tuan Nguyen, Manisha Tharaney, Maurice Zafimanjaka, and Roger Mathisen. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. Factor Structure and Equivalence of Maternal Resources for Care in Bangladesh, Vietnam, and Ethiopia. Sulochana Basnet, Edward A. Frongillo, Phuong Hong Nguyen, Spencer Moore & Mandana Arabi. Maternal and Child Health Journal. Trends and dynamics in the first four years of operation of the first human milk bank in Vietnam. Hoang Thi Tran 1, 2 *, Tuan Thanh Nguyen 3, Debbie Barnett 4, Gillian Weaver 5, Oanh Thi Xuan Nguyen1, Quang Van Ngo 6, Huong Thi Thanh Le 1, Le Thi Huynh 1, 2, Chung Thi Do 3, and Roger Mathisen 3. Nutrients.  The financing need of equitable provision of paid maternal leave in the informal sector in Indonesia: a comparison of estimation methods. Siregar M, Pitriyan P, Hardiawan D, Zambrano P, Mathisen R. International Journal for Equity in Health

UPCOMING WEBINARS & VIRTUAL EVENTS

Webinars and virtual events of interest below! Submit your webinars and other virtual events open to the public to Mackenzie Mayo. Be sure to include the date, time and a link! More details about the events below are available here. 40th Anniversary of the International Code of the Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes Friday, May 21 at 8:00 AM EST, 12:00 PM UTC Strengthening frontline public health services during COVID-19: Introducing innovative IYCF tools for health and nutrition workers Tuesday, May 25 at 8:00 AM EST, 12:00 PM UTC Implementing the Code and relevant World Health Assembly resolutions in West and Central Africa: 40th anniversary of the Code event (in French and English) Wednesday, May 26 7:00 AM EST, 11:00 AM UTC