# International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes Resource · id `maternal:who-code-breast-milk-substitutes` · Maternal & Newborn Atlas · release `c7fb95f1d15a7d13` (public) > General information from published sources, not medical advice, and not reviewed by clinicians. Check the cited source before relying on anything here. The atlas's own text and curation may be reused under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/): credit the atlas, and do not use it commercially. See the atlas About page. Text quoted from a source stays under that source's own terms, given as the source's reuse\_basis. The atlas's reuse terms do not cover it. The downloads list each quotation with its source in third\_party\_quotations. Browse, life stage: Postpartum; Infant follow-up Browse, care area: Breastfeeding and lactation ## In plain language A 1981 international code, adopted by the World Health Assembly, about how breast-milk substitutes such as infant formula are marketed. This page records its history from WHO's publication page. It does not summarise the Code's rules. ## Technical summary WHO publication ISBN 92-4-154160-1, 36 pages, who.int page date 27 January 1981 (earlier than the adoption on 21 May 1981 that the same page describes). The page says the 1974 World Health Assembly noted a decline in breastfeeding linked to several factors including manufactured substitutes, and that the Assembly adopted the code on 21 May 1981 by 118 votes. The PDF in WHO's repository has no text layer and was not read, so no Article of the Code is recorded here. ## Claims, with the population each applies to ## Context: Marketing of breast-milk substitutes worldwide (WHO Code, as the who.int page describes its history) Recipient: No clinical recipient; Population: Not a clinical population. The context is the policy setting in which the World Health Assembly dealt with the marketing of breast-milk substitutes.; Care setting: Not applicable (international public health policy).; Geography: Global (World Health Assembly); Life stage: Not applicable; Follow-up: Not applicable (policy history). ### The who.int page for the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes says the 27th World Health Assembly in 1974 noted a general decline in breastfeeding related to several factors, including the production of manufactured breast-milk substitutes. It says the 33rd World Health Assembly, in May 1980, endorsed the statement and recommendations of a joint WHO/UNICEF meeting and made particular mention of the recommendation that there should be an international code of marketing of infant formula and other products used as breast-milk substitutes, and that in May 1981 the Health Assembly debated the issue and adopted the code, as proposed, on 21 May by 118 votes. - Category: Description - Evidence stage: Guidance - Certainty: Certainty not assessed - Applies to: Recipient: No clinical recipient; Population: Not a clinical population. The context is the policy setting in which the World Health Assembly dealt with the marketing of breast-milk substitutes.; Care setting: Not applicable (international public health policy).; Geography: Global (World Health Assembly); Life stage: Not applicable; Follow-up: Not applicable (policy history). - Limitations: Only the page overview was read. The Code's text is in a 1981 WHO document whose PDF has no text layer in the IRIS copy, and nothing in this repository quotes it, so no provision of the Code is recorded here. The who.int page date of 27 January 1981 is earlier than the adoption on 21 May 1981 that the page describes; the atlas keeps the page date as its rule for WHO sources. - Last checked: 2026-10-15 - Sources: 1. Supports: International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes (WHO publication page) (Guideline, edition ISBN 92-4-154160-1, 36 pages. The date is the who.int page date, 27 January 1981, which is earlier than the adoption by the World Health Assembly on 21 May 1981 that the page itself describes; the atlas keeps the page date as its rule for WHO sources. Only the page overview was read. The IRIS PDF (fetched as ml-who-code-9241541601.pdf) has no text layer, so nothing in this repository quotes it.) Locator: Overview, paragraph 2. Retrieved 2026-10-15T13:49:54Z. Source state: Current. Snapshot hash: 3a9a6737440e6d2f4ff896b245398f189335d25cbf74698a666199830207f4e7. How it applies: WHO publication or tool page. 2. Supports: International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes (WHO publication page) (Guideline, edition ISBN 92-4-154160-1, 36 pages. The date is the who.int page date, 27 January 1981, which is earlier than the adoption by the World Health Assembly on 21 May 1981 that the page itself describes; the atlas keeps the page date as its rule for WHO sources. Only the page overview was read. The IRIS PDF (fetched as ml-who-code-9241541601.pdf) has no text layer, so nothing in this repository quotes it.) Locator: Overview, paragraph 3, sentence 1. Retrieved 2026-10-15T13:49:54Z. Source state: Current. Snapshot hash: 3a9a6737440e6d2f4ff896b245398f189335d25cbf74698a666199830207f4e7. How it applies: WHO publication or tool page. 3. Supports: International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes (WHO publication page) (Guideline, edition ISBN 92-4-154160-1, 36 pages. The date is the who.int page date, 27 January 1981, which is earlier than the adoption by the World Health Assembly on 21 May 1981 that the page itself describes; the atlas keeps the page date as its rule for WHO sources. Only the page overview was read. The IRIS PDF (fetched as ml-who-code-9241541601.pdf) has no text layer, so nothing in this repository quotes it.) Locator: Overview, paragraph 3 (part). Retrieved 2026-10-15T13:49:54Z. Source state: Current. Snapshot hash: 3a9a6737440e6d2f4ff896b245398f189335d25cbf74698a666199830207f4e7. How it applies: WHO publication or tool page. 4. Supports: International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes (WHO publication page) (Guideline, edition ISBN 92-4-154160-1, 36 pages. The date is the who.int page date, 27 January 1981, which is earlier than the adoption by the World Health Assembly on 21 May 1981 that the page itself describes; the atlas keeps the page date as its rule for WHO sources. Only the page overview was read. The IRIS PDF (fetched as ml-who-code-9241541601.pdf) has no text layer, so nothing in this repository quotes it.) Locator: Overview, paragraph 4. Retrieved 2026-10-15T13:49:54Z. Source state: Current. Snapshot hash: 3a9a6737440e6d2f4ff896b245398f189335d25cbf74698a666199830207f4e7. How it applies: WHO publication or tool page. 5. Supports: International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes (WHO publication page) (Guideline, edition ISBN 92-4-154160-1, 36 pages. The date is the who.int page date, 27 January 1981, which is earlier than the adoption by the World Health Assembly on 21 May 1981 that the page itself describes; the atlas keeps the page date as its rule for WHO sources. Only the page overview was read. The IRIS PDF (fetched as ml-who-code-9241541601.pdf) has no text layer, so nothing in this repository quotes it.) Locator: Overview, paragraph 4, sentence 2. Retrieved 2026-10-15T13:49:54Z. Source state: Current. Snapshot hash: 3a9a6737440e6d2f4ff896b245398f189335d25cbf74698a666199830207f4e7. How it applies: WHO publication or tool page. 6. Background: International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes (WHO publication page) (Guideline, edition ISBN 92-4-154160-1, 36 pages. The date is the who.int page date, 27 January 1981, which is earlier than the adoption by the World Health Assembly on 21 May 1981 that the page itself describes; the atlas keeps the page date as its rule for WHO sources. Only the page overview was read. The IRIS PDF (fetched as ml-who-code-9241541601.pdf) has no text layer, so nothing in this repository quotes it.) Locator: Page date line. Retrieved 2026-10-15T13:49:54Z. Source state: Current. Snapshot hash: 3a9a6737440e6d2f4ff896b245398f189335d25cbf74698a666199830207f4e7. How it applies: WHO publication or tool page (context for the claim). 7. Background: International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes (WHO publication page) (Guideline, edition ISBN 92-4-154160-1, 36 pages. The date is the who.int page date, 27 January 1981, which is earlier than the adoption by the World Health Assembly on 21 May 1981 that the page itself describes; the atlas keeps the page date as its rule for WHO sources. Only the page overview was read. The IRIS PDF (fetched as ml-who-code-9241541601.pdf) has no text layer, so nothing in this repository quotes it.) Locator: Page metadata, Reference numbers. Retrieved 2026-10-15T13:49:54Z. Source state: Current. Snapshot hash: 3a9a6737440e6d2f4ff896b245398f189335d25cbf74698a666199830207f4e7. How it applies: WHO publication or tool page (context for the claim). 8. Background: International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes (WHO publication page) (Guideline, edition ISBN 92-4-154160-1, 36 pages. The date is the who.int page date, 27 January 1981, which is earlier than the adoption by the World Health Assembly on 21 May 1981 that the page itself describes; the atlas keeps the page date as its rule for WHO sources. Only the page overview was read. The IRIS PDF (fetched as ml-who-code-9241541601.pdf) has no text layer, so nothing in this repository quotes it.) Locator: Page metadata, Editors. Retrieved 2026-10-15T13:49:54Z. Source state: Current. Snapshot hash: 3a9a6737440e6d2f4ff896b245398f189335d25cbf74698a666199830207f4e7. How it applies: WHO publication or tool page (context for the claim). ## Connected pages - Marketing rules: Breastfeeding (`maternal:breastfeeding`) ## Provenance Content hash: 7790788cf94d212cae8a1eb40ab60749b0ba3a519f1ed09b5579be83cf10df2f Last substantive edit: 2026-10-15 Evidence last checked: 2026-10-15