Breastfeeding Around the World: The Innocenti Declaration

The Innocenti Declaration was produced and adopted by participants at the World Health Organization UNICEF Policy Makers Meeting on Breastfeeding in the early 1990's. It recognizes that breastfeeding is a unique process that:

1. Provides ideal nutrition for infants.

2. Contributes to healthy infant growth and development.

3. Reduces the instance and severity of infectious diseases thereby lowering infant mortality and morbidity.

4. Contributes to women's health by reducing the risk of breast and ovarian cancer and by increasing the time between pregnancies. For more information on these topics see Breastfeeding Benefits and Barriers, The Lactational Amenorrhea Method and Prevention of Breast Cancer.

5. Provides social and economic benefits to the family and the nation.

6. Provides most women with a sense of satisfaction when successfully carried out.

7. Increases benefits with increased exclusiveness of breastfeeding during the first six months of life and thereafter with increasing duration of breastfeeding with complementary foods added after 4 to 6 months.

An updated Innocenti Declaration, 2005 has been published. It reaffirms the tenets of the original Innocenti Declaration of 1990 and sets 9 targets for further improvement of breastfeeding support.

1. Have a national breastfeeding coordinator and committee to promote breastfeeding and healthy infant and child feeding.

2. Ensure that facilities providing maternity services follow the WHO "Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding."

3. Follow the International Code of Marketing Breastmilk Substitutes.

4. Enact and enforce legislation protecting the breastfeeding rights of working women.

5. Develop, implement, monitor and evaluate a comprehensive policy on infant and young child feeding.

6. Ensure the protection, promotion, and support of exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months, and continued breastfeeding up to and beyond 2 years.

7. Promote timely, adequate, safe, and appropriate complementary feeding.

8. Provide guidance on feeding infants and young children in exceptionally difficult circumstances.

9. Consider legislation to support the "International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes."