Alive & Thrive has launched a special collection of resources on the BMS Code, featuring resources from various organizations around the world.

Guidance documents from 33 countries on newborn care for infants whose mothers are diagnosed with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 were assessed for alignment with WHO recommendations, revealing considerable inconsistencies.

An analysis reveals that breastmilk substitutes companies are using health claims, misinformation about breastfeeding, digital marketing, and promotional tactics such as donations and services to capitalize on families’ COVID-19 fears to undermine breastfeeding and sell products.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, policy makers and practitioners must learn from mistakes made during the HIV pandemic, when breastfeeding was undermined through isolating infants from their mothers, and formula feeding resulted in more infant deaths than the disease.

Not breastfeeding leads to more than half a million child deaths annually and costs the world economy up to US$1 billion a day.

Click below to read past editions of the MIYCAN Update is Alive & Thrive's quarterly global newsletter.

December 2022