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Innocenti
Declaration on the Protection, Promotion and Support of Breastfeeding
The Innocenti
Declaration was produced and adopted by participants at the WHO/UNICEF
policymakers' meeting on "Breastfeeding in the 1990s: A Global
Initiative," co-sponsored by the United States Agency for International
Development (AID) and the Swedish International Development Authority (SIDA),
held at the Spedale degli Innocenti, Florence, Italy, from July 30 to
August 1, 1990. The Declaration reflects the content of the original
background document for the meeting and the views expressed in group and
plenary sessions. Signing the Declaration on behalf of the United States
Department of Health and Human Services was Audrey H. Nora, MD, MPH, then
the Assistant Surgeon General of the U.S. Public Health Service.
The
following is from the declaration which can be found at the WABA Web site
(http://www.waba.org.br/inno.htm*).
Recognizing that:
Breastfeeding is a unique process
that
Provides ideal nutrition for infants and contributes to their healthy
growth and development Reduces incidence and severity of infectious
diseases, thereby lowering infant morbidity and mortality Contributes to
women's health by reducing the risk of breast and ovarian cancer, and by
increasing the spacing between pregnancies Provides social and economic
benefits to the family and the nation Provides most women with a sense of
satisfaction when successfully carried out
and that Recent Research has found
that:
these benefits increase with increased exclusiveness of breastfeeding
during the first six months of life, and thereafter with increased
duration of breastfeeding with complementary foods, and programme
intervention can result in positive changes in breastfeeding behaviour
We therefore declare
that
- As a global goal for
optimal maternal and child health and nutrition, all women should be
enabled to practise exclusive breastfeeding and all infants should be
fed exclusively on breastmilk from birth to 4-6 months of age.
Thereafter, children should continue to be breastfed, while receiving
appropriate and adequate complementary foods, for up to two years of
age or beyond. This child-feeding ideal is to be achieved by creating
an appropriate environment of awareness and support so that women can
breastfeed in this manner.
- Attainment of this
goal requires, in many countries, the reinforcement of a
"breastfeeding culture" and its vigorous defence against
incursions of a "bottle-feeding culture". This requires
commitment and advocacy for social mobilization, utilizing to the full
the prestige and authority of acknowledged leaders of society in all
walks of life.
- Efforts should be
made to increase women's confidence in their ability to breastfeed.
Such empowerment involves the removal of constraints and influences
that manipulate perceptions and behaviour towards breastfeeding, often
by subtle and indirect means. This requires sensitivity, continued
vigilance, and a responsive and comprehensive communications strategy
involving all media and addressed to all levels of society.
Furthermore, obstacles to breastfeeding within the health system, the
workplace and the community must be eliminated.
- Measures should be
taken to ensure that women are adequately nourished for their optimal
health and that of their families. Furthermore, ensuring that all
women also have access to family planning information and services
allows them to sustain breastfeeding and avoid shortened birth
intervals that may compromise their health and nutritional status, and
that of their children.
- All governments
should develop national breastfeeding policies and set appropriate
national targets for the 1990s. They should establish a national
system for monitoring the attainment of their targets, and they should
develop indicators such as the prevalence of exclusively breastfed
infants at discharge from maternity services, and the prevalence of
exclusively breastfed infants at four months of age.
- National authorities
are further urged to integrate their breastfeeding policies into their
overall health and development policies. In so doing they should
reinforce all actions that protect, promote and support breastfeeding
within complementary programmes such as prenatal and perinatal care,
nutrition, family planning services, and prevention and treatment of
common maternal and childhood diseases. All healthcare staff should be
trained in the skills necessary to implement these breastfeeding
policies.
Operational targets
All governments by the year 1995 should
have
- Appointed a national breastfeeding coordinator of appropriate
authority, and established a multisectoral national breastfeeding
committee composed of representatives from relevant government
departments, non-governmental organizations, and health professional
associations
- Ensured that every facility providing maternity services fully
practises all ten of the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding set out
in the joint WHO/UNICEF statement "Protecting, promoting and
supporting breastfeeding: the special role of maternity
services."
- Taken action to give effect to the principles and aim of all
Articles of the International Code of Marketing of Breast-Milk
Substitutes and subsequent relevant World Health Assembly resolutions
in their entirety; and
- enacted imaginative legislation protecting the breastfeeding rights
of working women and established means for its enforcement.
We also call upon
international organizations to
- Draw up action strategies for protecting, promoting and supporting
breastfeeding, including global monitoring and evaluation of their
strategies
- Support national situation analyses and surveys and the development
of national goals and targets for action; and
- Encourage and support national authorities in planning,
implementing, monitoring and evaluating their breastfeeding policies.
* Links to non-Federal organizations are provided solely as a service to our users. This link does not constitute an endorsement of this organization by USBC or the Federal Government, and none should be inferred. The USBC is not responsible for the content of the individual organization Web pages found at this link.
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