National Strategy for Infant and Young Child Feeding for the years 2008-2010

This National Strategy for Infant and Young Child Feeding is a nationwide sectoral document aiming at making the role of health and social institutions effective, in an environment of cooperation and harmony, to the end of achieving the highest role of the health national sector which is the improvement of the state of nutrition, growth, development and health through optimum nutrition to ensure the survival of Infant and Young Children in the best possible state of health. The main general guidelines underlying the Policy are (i) encourage adequate nutrition for infants and children and take all necessary measures for breastfeeding in the first six months of life, ensuring the intake of the necessary adequate and sufficient supplementary nutrition, together with natural breastfeeding, up to two years. Mothers and fathers must be provided with the necessary information; (ii) guarantee nutritional alternatives in exceptional cases through information and assistance support; (iii) allow mothers to continue breastfeeding and care for their babies after returning to work; (iv) ensure collaboration between all sectors concerned in terms of ensuring the application of measures suitable for healthy nutrition under the control of the National Commission for Natural Breastfeeding; (v) ensure that the measures provided for by the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes and the related Resolutions are applied; (vi) train health staff in caring for mothers and families. The specific goals of the Strategy are (i) enhance the commitment of the government and institutions to offer optimal nutritional practices for infants and children; (ii) create an environment that allows mothers and caregivers to make information-based choices; (iii) raise awareness of nutrition-related problems in infants and children, frame the styles to be adopted, and offer a framework of interventions. The document underlines the importance of protecting the rights of women to breastfeed their children and providing appropriate environmental conditions, laws and practices in order to achieve this.
The Strategy recognizes some basic principles related to the right to food, such as (i) the right to have adequate food and to be free from hunger; (ii) poverty, lack of food security, the political situation, the social environment are the main obstacles to guaranteeing optimum nutrition; while (iii) social participation, complete harmony and collaboration between all sectors concerning health care are the main factors to guarantee optimum nutrition.