Updated February 2022!

This quick guide summarizes the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes (The Code) and relevant resolutions of the World Health Assembly that help protect breastfeeding around the globe.

This document outlines the technical guidelines for establishing and operating Human Milk Banks in Viet Nam, providing a basis for health facilities providing maternity and newborn services. 

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

Breastfeeding is one of the best buys in global health to improve social, health, and economic development outcomes. Globally, improving breastfeeding practices could save more than 820,000 lives annually—87 percent of them infants under six months of age.

A map of Centers of Excellence for Breastfeeding facilities in Viet Nam (updated in September 2023).

From 2010-2014, Alive & Thrive worked in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, and Viet Nam to reduce undernutrition and death caused by sub-optimal infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices.