Global strategy for infant and young child feeding

Overview

WHO and UNICEF jointly developed the Global Strategy for Infant and Young Child Feeding whose aim is to improve - through optimal feeding - the nutritional status, growth and development, health, and thus the very survival of infants and young children.

The Global Strategy's specific objectives are:

• to raise awareness of the main problems affecting infant and young child feeding, identify approaches to their solution, and provide a framework of essential interventions;
• to increase the commitment of governments, international organizations and other concerned parties for optimal feeding practices for infants and young children;
• to create an environment that will enable mothers, families and other caregivers in all circumstances to make - and implement - informed choices about optimal feeding practices for infants and young children.

The Global Strategy for Infant and Young Child Feeding aims to revitalize efforts to promote, protect and support appropriate infant and young child feeding. It builds upon past initiatives, in particular the Innocenti Declaration and the Baby-friendly Hospital initiative and addresses the needs of all children including those living in difficult circumstances, such as infants of mothers living with HIV, low-birth-weight infants and infants in emergency situations.

The strategy specifies not only responsibilities of governments, but also of international organizations, non-governmental organizations and other concerned parties. It engages all relevant stakeholders and provides a framework for accelerated action, linking relevant intervention areas and using resources available in a variety of sectors.