In Baku, the day of 19 November 2024 is devoted to the themes of food, agriculture and water day. These are all issues where breastfeeding can make a difference! Threats to the world’s food supply – the role of...

In Switzerland, labour law protects breastfeeding if the mother is in work during the child’s first year of life. Since 2014, when Switzerland signed the ILO Convention 183, time spent breastfeeding or expressing milk is counted as paid working...

Pink October is a time to show solidarity with all women suffering from breast cancer. It’s also a time to raise awareness of preventive factors, so as to give ourselves the best chance of escaping the tragedy that is...

The theme of World Breastfeeding Week #wbw2024: Closing the gap: breastfeeding support for all https://worldbreastfeedingweek.org. In Switzerland, WBW is being celebrated this year from 14 to 21 September 2024. It provides an opportunity to talk about the benefits of...

On the occasion of the Olympics 2024 in Paris, let’s share the very important news : Breastfeeding mothers are also athletes ! Crowned World Judo Champion 2023, Clarisse Agbegnenou is a nursing mother, and the news has not gone unnoticed! An...

The International Congress of Nutrition (ICN3) will take place in Paris, 24-29 August 2025 with the theme ‘Sustainable Food for Global Health’. https://iuns.org/2024/05/international-congress-of-nutrition-2025/. This topic has been addressed by IBFAN-GIFA since many years and GIFA participated in the World...

The Swiss group Nestlé adds sugar to certain food products for newborns in poor countries, denounce the RTS, the Basler Zeitung, the Berner Zeitung, the Bund, the NZZ and the Tages-Anzeiger, citing a study by the NGO Public Eye....

Several associations of healthcare professionals (doctors, midwives, lactation consultants, paediatricians) from around the world have signed a motion calling for an end to corporate sponsorship of breast-milk substitutes. This sponsorship includes advertising, but also the funding of conferences, training...

In February 2024, COFF (the Swiss Federal Commission for Family Affairs) published a Policy Brief stating that breastfeeding is a matter for society as a whole. “Mothers who wish to breastfeed their children should have the opportunity to do...

GIFA Breastfeeding afternoon (online) on Tuesday 12 March 2024, 1-3pm in French “Prolonged breastfeeding: preconceived ideas and current information”. The zoom link will be publishid on 5 March 2024 here Speakers: Learning objectives : Target audience: Anyone in contact...

“Come to the Table” (formerly The Taste Week) is an initiative of the Canton of Geneva to promote the motto “From field to plate – eating locally and in season”. Food is fundamental to health. We develop a taste...

As every year, Geneva University Hospital (HUG) is organising events for World Breastfeeding Week (WBW). During the week of 11-18 September 2023, there will be information stands on breastfeeding (with the participation of GIFA) and workshops. What is WBW...

In emergency situations, nutrition and breastfeeding in particular play a decisive role. Emergencies can be of various types: military conflicts, refugee camps, political crises, terrorist attacks, natural disasters, as well as non-natural disasters such as nuclear accidents, etc. Switzerland...

New Rochelle, NY, March 22, 2023, Publisher’s Abstract—By following normal mother infant physiology, parents can get more sleep. The Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine (ABM) has released new guidelines to help parents manage night-time breastfeeding in young infants. The new...

The Lancet publishes a new series on breastfeeding, following up on the 2016 series that showed the benefits of breastfeeding for developed countries, the health of babies and mothers, and the large savings in healthcare costs. In 2023, the...

To avoid developing a vitamin D (vitD) deficiency, The American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Institute of Health currently (2021) recommend that breastfed and partially breastfed infants be supplemented with 400 IU per day of vitD beginning in...

As world leaders meet in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt for the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference (Cop 27), IBFAN is calling for restrictions on the global production and trade of  ultra-processed (UPFs) plastic-wrapped and additive-laden products. While many nutrition campaigns have focused on excess...

Research has revealed new insight into the biological mechanisms of the long-term positive health effects of breastfeeding. Breastfeeding is known to be associated with better health outcomes in infancy and throughout adulthood, and previous research has shown that babies...

Based on this review of the literature, interventions that extend across pregnancy and postpartum and offer individualized support from both professionals and peers who collaborate through a continuum of settings (e.g., health system, home, and community) are most successful...

Like every year, WBW (World Breastfeeding Week) is celebrated on different dates around the world. In Switzerland, it is in mid-September. The University Hospital of Geneva (HUG) organizes on this occasion : an information stand at the entrance of...

GIFA supports Nanette Jolly’s demand that the the exclusively breastfed child (0-6months) should be the baseline, i.e. the controll group, and to consider anything that deviates from this practice, as «  study group ».Instead of showing that breastfed children...

The second report in a series detailing exploitative marketing practices employed by US$ 55 billion baby formula industry, shows parents, particularly mothers, are being insidiously and persistently targeted online 28 April 2022 WHO News release Geneva Reading time: 3...

Message by Ksenya Solovey, Lactation Consultant in Ukraine: Mothers + babies need to stay warm. Donate clothes, blankets. Send medical supplies. Promote mothers uniting together. Please remember, formula donations will ultimately undermine breastfeeding and in the long-term create poor...

This study by Carina Stone and Julie P Smith finds that meaningful discussion of breastfeeding is overwhelmingly absent from the sexual and reproductive health rights literature, despite several key international human rights instruments protecting women’s rights on breastfeeding. Equally,...

Sign the WHO Letter #EndExploitativeMarketing https://www.who.int/teams/maternal-newborn-child-adolescent-health-and-ageing/formula-milk-industry/endexploitativemarketing-of-formula-milk-products See livestream of the event https://www.who.int/news-room/events/detail/2022/02/23/default-calendar/marketing-the-USD-55-billion-formula-milk-industry We call on manufacturers and distributors of commercial milk formula to #EndExploitativeMarketing of formula milk products.  We call on National Governments to enact, monitor, and enforce laws...

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and partners will launch a new report, How the marketing of formula milk influences our decisions on infant feeding. Wednesday 23 February 2022...

Despite public health efforts to promote breastfeeding, global rates of breastfeeding continue to trail behind the goals identified by the World Health Organization.1 While the literature exploring breastfeeding beliefs and practices is growing, it offers various and sometimes conflicting...

Breastfeeding Medicine Journal – New Rochelle, NY, December 14, 2021—The percentage of infants fully breastfed at 1,3, and 6 months significantly decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic among participants of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children...

IBFAN’s Briefing: The International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes was adopted forty years ago by the World Health Assembly, the world’s highest health policy setting body.  The Code, the first consumer protection tool of its kind, was the result of...

Over the last few decades, the demand for breast milk has grown. The message “breast is best” has driven parents and caregivers to buy breast milk. Even the unwell, bodybuilders and “clean eaters” are known to use it. Once...

New Rochelle, NY, September 16, 2021—COVID-19 vaccination results in minimal disruption of lactation. Vaccination also has no adverse impact on the breastfed child, according to two studies published in the peer-reviewed journal Breastfeeding Medicine. Skyler McLaurin-Jiang, MD, MPH, click here...

GIFA invites you to an online thematic meeting as part of World Breastfeeding Week WBW 2021. Alain, father of 3 children and general practitioner, will lead this discussion on the place of the father, his role when the mother...

The recording of the Ceremony and the lectures is online. Let’s celebrate the anniversary of breastfeeding protection together! The International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes was published in 1981. It remains valid as a tool for the protection...

Abstract: The global interest and concern over the COVID-19 pandemic has shifted the attention of governments and international organisations away from urgent problems such as the climate crisis. In most international fora and meetings over the past year, attention...

Resumed online 73rd World Health Assembly 9-14th November 2020 Breastfeeding should be valued and protected worldwide. This is the purpose of the International Code of Marketing of breastmilk substitutes. A new draft Decision to be debated at this week’s resumed 73rd...

The week of taste in Geneva advocates the motto “From field to plate – eating local and seasonal”. Food is fundamental to health. Taste for food is formed from an early age, particularly through breast milk. Each mother’s milk...

Are the doctors of the future ready to support breastfeeding? A cross-sectional study in the UK. Kirsty V Biggs, Katy J Fidler, Natalie S Shenker, Heather Brown (20 May 2020) https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7238622/ Abstract Background: There are currently no published data...

Are our babies off to a healthy start? Shocking gaps in emergency preparedness for Europe’s babies, new WBTi World Breastfeeding Trends initiative report highlights. The Covid 19 pandemic has shown how important it is for countries to protect their...

Laureates from the Right Livelihood Foundation will be in Europe. The conference will consist of two elements: an internal discussion among the Laureates (on 29th and 30th of October and 1st November), and a number of public thematic events...

On 9 May 2016, WHO, UNICEF and IBFAN had the pleasure to hold an evening of discussion on national implementation of the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes and subsequent relevant WHA resolutions at Geneva Press Club. Watch the event podcast on http://new.livestream.com/GvaPressClub/Breastfeeding. Breastfeeding is...

Baby Milk Action press release 9 September 2014.  Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) 8 September: Oscar-winning director, Danis Tanovic, took to the stage to resounding applause following the screening of Tigers, his new 90-minute fact-based drama, and revealed that the character played...

UN Human Rights Council decides to start elaborating an international legally binding instrument to end human rights abuses and impunity by transnational corporations and other business enterprises Lien vers le communiqué de presse sur le site de FIAN International...

Yesterday, a resolution was adopted in the UN Human Rights Council that will begin the process of elaborating an international legally binding instrument on business and human rights.

The Swiss Network for the Rights of the Child (Netzwerk Kinderrechte Schweiz) today presented its reports to the Committee on the Rights of the Child on the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the...