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International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes

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.

  • Resource
  • In this atlas

Overview

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.

Resource

Type
Tool
Contents
The text of the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes (WHO, 1981); not read for this atlas beyond the publication page.
Access
Open publication page on who.int and the WHO IRIS repository.
License
Not stated on the page read; WHO terms of use allow short quotations with acknowledgment.

Claims and evidence

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).
Eligibility: 1 inclusion criterion; 1 exclusion criterion
Included
  • Not applicable
Excluded
  • Not stated in the source that was read

  • Description Guidance Certainty not assessed

    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.

    Applies to No clinical recipient
    • Not a clinical population. The context is the policy setting in which the World Health Assembly dealt with the marketing of breast-milk substitutes.
    • Not applicable (international public health policy).
    • Global (World Health Assembly)
    • Not applicable
    Follow-up Not applicable (policy history).
    Certainty method
    Not assessed
    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
    Next evidence check due
    Not scheduled
    Sources and citations (8)

    1. Supports International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes (WHO publication page)

      Guideline · World Health Organization · 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. · Published 1981-01-27 · ISBN: 92-4-154160-1

      Locator
      Overview, paragraph 2
      How it applies
      WHO publication or tool page.
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Current
      Snapshot hash
      3a9a6737440e6d2f4ff896b245398f189335d25cbf74698a666199830207f4e7
      Reuse basis
      WHO terms of use (fetched as ml-who-terms-of-use.html, sha256 8edac88c0773639d74a023402b231adafb407e8a680e6620c099eb5a17fb61ab) allow short quotations with acknowledgment of WHO as the source and bar other uses without WHO's written authorization. The page bytes are not committed. Short quotations with attribution.

    2. Supports International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes (WHO publication page)

      Guideline · World Health Organization · 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. · Published 1981-01-27 · ISBN: 92-4-154160-1

      Locator
      Overview, paragraph 3, sentence 1
      How it applies
      WHO publication or tool page.
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Current
      Snapshot hash
      3a9a6737440e6d2f4ff896b245398f189335d25cbf74698a666199830207f4e7
      Reuse basis
      WHO terms of use (fetched as ml-who-terms-of-use.html, sha256 8edac88c0773639d74a023402b231adafb407e8a680e6620c099eb5a17fb61ab) allow short quotations with acknowledgment of WHO as the source and bar other uses without WHO's written authorization. The page bytes are not committed. Short quotations with attribution.

    3. Supports International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes (WHO publication page)

      Guideline · World Health Organization · 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. · Published 1981-01-27 · ISBN: 92-4-154160-1

      Locator
      Overview, paragraph 3 (part)
      How it applies
      WHO publication or tool page.
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Current
      Snapshot hash
      3a9a6737440e6d2f4ff896b245398f189335d25cbf74698a666199830207f4e7
      Reuse basis
      WHO terms of use (fetched as ml-who-terms-of-use.html, sha256 8edac88c0773639d74a023402b231adafb407e8a680e6620c099eb5a17fb61ab) allow short quotations with acknowledgment of WHO as the source and bar other uses without WHO's written authorization. The page bytes are not committed. Short quotations with attribution.

    4. Supports International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes (WHO publication page)

      Guideline · World Health Organization · 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. · Published 1981-01-27 · ISBN: 92-4-154160-1

      Locator
      Overview, paragraph 4
      How it applies
      WHO publication or tool page.
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Current
      Snapshot hash
      3a9a6737440e6d2f4ff896b245398f189335d25cbf74698a666199830207f4e7
      Reuse basis
      WHO terms of use (fetched as ml-who-terms-of-use.html, sha256 8edac88c0773639d74a023402b231adafb407e8a680e6620c099eb5a17fb61ab) allow short quotations with acknowledgment of WHO as the source and bar other uses without WHO's written authorization. The page bytes are not committed. Short quotations with attribution.

    5. Supports International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes (WHO publication page)

      Guideline · World Health Organization · 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. · Published 1981-01-27 · ISBN: 92-4-154160-1

      Locator
      Overview, paragraph 4, sentence 2
      How it applies
      WHO publication or tool page.
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Current
      Snapshot hash
      3a9a6737440e6d2f4ff896b245398f189335d25cbf74698a666199830207f4e7
      Reuse basis
      WHO terms of use (fetched as ml-who-terms-of-use.html, sha256 8edac88c0773639d74a023402b231adafb407e8a680e6620c099eb5a17fb61ab) allow short quotations with acknowledgment of WHO as the source and bar other uses without WHO's written authorization. The page bytes are not committed. Short quotations with attribution.

    6. Background International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes (WHO publication page)

      Guideline · World Health Organization · 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. · Published 1981-01-27 · ISBN: 92-4-154160-1

      Locator
      Page date line
      How it applies
      WHO publication or tool page (context for the claim).
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Current
      Snapshot hash
      3a9a6737440e6d2f4ff896b245398f189335d25cbf74698a666199830207f4e7
      Reuse basis
      WHO terms of use (fetched as ml-who-terms-of-use.html, sha256 8edac88c0773639d74a023402b231adafb407e8a680e6620c099eb5a17fb61ab) allow short quotations with acknowledgment of WHO as the source and bar other uses without WHO's written authorization. The page bytes are not committed. Short quotations with attribution.

    7. Background International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes (WHO publication page)

      Guideline · World Health Organization · 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. · Published 1981-01-27 · ISBN: 92-4-154160-1

      Locator
      Page metadata, Reference numbers
      How it applies
      WHO publication or tool page (context for the claim).
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Current
      Snapshot hash
      3a9a6737440e6d2f4ff896b245398f189335d25cbf74698a666199830207f4e7
      Reuse basis
      WHO terms of use (fetched as ml-who-terms-of-use.html, sha256 8edac88c0773639d74a023402b231adafb407e8a680e6620c099eb5a17fb61ab) allow short quotations with acknowledgment of WHO as the source and bar other uses without WHO's written authorization. The page bytes are not committed. Short quotations with attribution.

    8. Background International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes (WHO publication page)

      Guideline · World Health Organization · 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. · Published 1981-01-27 · ISBN: 92-4-154160-1

      Locator
      Page metadata, Editors
      How it applies
      WHO publication or tool page (context for the claim).
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Current
      Snapshot hash
      3a9a6737440e6d2f4ff896b245398f189335d25cbf74698a666199830207f4e7
      Reuse basis
      WHO terms of use (fetched as ml-who-terms-of-use.html, sha256 8edac88c0773639d74a023402b231adafb407e8a680e6620c099eb5a17fb61ab) allow short quotations with acknowledgment of WHO as the source and bar other uses without WHO's written authorization. The page bytes are not committed. Short quotations with attribution.

Record details

Record id
maternal:who-code-breast-milk-substitutes
Content hash
7790788cf94d212cae8a1eb40ab60749b0ba3a519f1ed09b5579be83cf10df2f