WHO Member States call for the regulation of Digital marketing of baby foods

February 11, 2025 / EB 156, Events, Monitoring, News

WHO Member States call for the regulation of Digital marketing of baby foods

EB156 | Geneva, Switzerland | 3–11 February, 2025

IBFAN made interventions during this Executive Board on this Resolution and also Emergencies, Non Communicable Diseases, Pollution, Universal Health Care and WHO Governance, highlighting the importance of WHO in our work and the need to protect its independence, integrity and trustworthiness by increasing Member States’ assessed contributions

Press Release

In the face of the budgetary and political crisis following the USA withdrawal from WHO, the 156th WHO Executive Board today remained strong on its core constitutional purpose to help governments protect the health of all citizens and recommended forwarding a Draft Resolution on Regulating the digital marketing of breast-milk substitutes.

The draft Resolution, led by Brazil and Mexico, is proposed by 21 Member States. (1) After numerous consultations with Member States, Brazil disseminated the final draft text to all Member States on the 7th February. A ‘silence procedure’ followed, running to 6:00 pm on Saturday 8th. Since no Member State raised objections during this time the text is now considered to be a consensus amongst all Member States.

Dr Marina Rea, speaking for IBFAN, the global network that worked alongside WHO for nearly 50 years (2) welcomed the draft Resolution and urged all to support it. “Mothers are being bombarded by misleading marketing online. In one click health authority advice is disregarded with long-term consequences for child health and survival.” Stressing that there is no need for significant resources to enforce this Resolution, she urged governments to “allocate specific legal duties to the social media platforms and service providers who have control over their content. However it is urgent that Governments adopt this Resolution (3) and follow the WHO Guidance.”

The costs of all the proposed Resolutions were considered together before the decision taken Today. The debate on its formal adoption will take place in the 78th World Health Assembly in May.

Important links

FIND YOUR NATIONAL LAW on IBFAN’s Website

IBFAN Statements

IBFAN made interventions during this Executive Board on this Resolution and also Emergencies, Non Communicable Diseases, pollution, universal health care and WHO governance, highlighting the importance of WHO in our work and the need to protect its independence, integrity and trustworthiness by increasing Member States’ assessed contributions.

The International Lactation Consultant Association (ILCA) and Save the Children also made several supportive statements.

Check below the statements from IBFAN during EB156 or access the playlist on YouTube.

Agenda Item 24 - Issues Related to Management and Governance

Patti Rundall (IBFAN UK) – 03/02/2025

IBFAN has been a critical friend of WHO for nearly 50 years and our collaboration contributed tothe adoption of the first global consumer protection tool – a Code of Marketing that has savedmillions of children’s lives but was adopted in the face of fierce opposition from industry.

As WHO comes under attack again, corporate free NGOS such as IBFAN can help explainWHO’s relevance and why its independence, integrity and trustworthiness must be protectedfrom political and commercial influence from health harming industries. No single country couldever be trusted to defend the health needs of all countries, as WHO is constitutionally mandatedto do, so assessed contributions must be increased and all collaboration and funding screenedfor Conflicts of Interest. There is no other organisation that can do this work.

Agenda Item 6 - Universal health coverage

Anna Koronkiewicz-Wiórek (IBFAN Poland) – 05/02/2025

IBFAN strongly supports the right to access to free and adequate healthcare. However, if UHC is to be effective, strong conflicts of interest safeguards are needed to prevent health harming commercial industries hijacking the process.

For oral heath, prevention starts with optimal early years feeding: breastfeeding and the avoidance of all ultra-processed products. Companies know exactly how to process raw ingredients to achieve sweetness while claiming products are sugar free. They know that sweetness is addictive and sets up taste preferences in children.

Marketing legislation must cover all formulas and related products marketed for infants and children, including plant-based formulas and bottles and teats.

Codex is starting new work on a standard for baby foods – many are high in free sugars. Member States must pay attention and send health delegates to Codex to ensure that WHO recommendations are followed.

Agenda Item 7 - Follow-up to the political declaration of the third high-level meeting of the General Assembly on the prevention and control of NCDs

Paola Gaete (IBFAN Chile) – 05/02/2025

IBFAN participated in the development of the first Political Declaration on the prevention andcontrol of NCDs, and also many subsequent WHO Global Strategies, Reports, Guides, Tools andAction Plans.
One of the over-arching principles has always been the prevention, management and avoidanceof the undue influence and interference of health harming entities in public health policydevelopment.

Despite many references to ‘Multi Stakeholder’ engagement in the report there are no referencesto Conflicts of Interest safeguards. If the new Political Declaration on NCDs is to be genuinelybased on evidence and grounded in human rights, the original over-arching principle must not beforgotten. Otherwise its aim is likely to be derailed.

Agenda Item 15 - WHO’s work in health emergencies

Patti Rundall (IBFAN UK) – 06/02/2025

Infant mortality rises when inappropriate donations disrupt breastfeeding – a resilient practice that provides food, care and immune protection, especially in emergencies.

A new draft Codex Guideline is coming that will allow labelling exemptions in emergencies. This maybe fine for some products, but very risky for baby foods. IBFAN has documented how badly labelled ‘humanitarian donations’ are exploited to create new markets for risky products.

IBFAN is a founding member of Infant Feeding in Emergencies group, set up to ensure good coordinated emergency responses, such as re-lactation and ‘skin-to-skin’ contact that improve infant survival. With so many climate and conflict crises WHO must ensure that its emergency guidance is not influenced by commercial agendas and that food distribution does no unintended harm for mothers and children.

Agenda Item 14 - Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health

Marina Rea (IBFAN Brazil) – 07/02/2025

IBFAN welcomes the draft Resolution and urges MSs to support it. It is urgently needed.

Mothers are now being bombarded by misleading information. In one click health authorityadvice is disregarded. This is serious. It has long-term consequences for child health andsurvival.
There are now 144 national laws based on International Code and when these are enforcedbreastfeeding rates improve. However, many laws do not include the 20 subsequent resolutionsthat keep pace with new marketing strategies and the ultra-processed products for children thatare causing so much harm.

There is no need for significant resources to enforce every digital violation of the Code.Governments must support the Resolution and allocate specific legal duties to the social mediaplatforms and the other actors in the digital supply chain who have control over monitoring theircontent. It is urgent that Governments support the Resolution and follow the WHO Guidance.

Agenda Item 20 - The impact of chemicals, waste and pollution on human health

Anna Koronkiewicz-Wiórek (IBFAN Poland) – 08/02/2025

IBFAN appreciates WHO’s support for this work. Prenatal and postnatal exposure to toxic chemicals can harm children’s health. In some highly contaminated areas even breastfeeding may be at risk. However, in most cases the benefits of breastfeeding will be greater than harm caused by such contamination. Breastfeeding confers immuno-protective factors and helps build children’s lifelong immune system. Infant feeding products and packaging are inherently risky and contain plastics and Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals which impact ON babies’ immune, reproductive and ENDOCRINE systems. WHO must continue work on the Global Plastics Treaty to develop a legally binding instrument on plastic pollution and protect the health of all children and their environment from toxic chemicals, while ensuring parents receive sound independent information free of commercial influence.

Agenda Item 24.4 - Engagement with non-State actors: Report on the implementation of the Framework of Engagement with Non-State Actors

Paola Gaete (IBFAN Chile) – 11/02/2025

IBFAN recognises that WHO is under a financial crisis. This is not new and as long as Assessed Contributions are so restricted it will always be so. But using FENSA as a funding source has many reputational risks and threats to WHO’s independence, integrity and trustworthiness.

The report on FENSA lists many interactions and collaborations but contains no clarity on identities and responsibilities of the NSAs listed and no mention of conflict of interest safeguards. In our experience ‘multi-stakeholder’ collaborations with health-harming corporations, who have no democratic accountability, delay the effective action needed.

With so many crises it is more important than ever that WHO remembers its over-arching principle to prevent manage and avoid undue influence interference of private sector entities in public health policy development.

NOTES

(1) Armenia, Bangladesh, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Iraq, Lesotho, Mexico, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Slovakia, Spain, Sri Lanka, Uruguay and Vanuatu.

(2) IBFAN, has been a critical friend of WHO for 47 years, and was key to the adoption of the world’s first consumer protection tool – a Code of Marketing and 20 Resolutions that are in law – to some extent – in 144 countries. Dr Rea made a statement during the debate on Agenda item 14 Friday on the evening of 7th February on Global Strategy for Women’s Children’s an Adolescent Health. A silence procedure, tacit consent or tacit acceptance procedure “he who is silent is taken to agree”, “silence implies/means consent”) is a way of formally adoptng texts, often, but not exclusively, in an international political context.

(3). The Draft Resolution contains many important paragraphs, which if finally adopted at the Assembly in May, can be used by health advocates to protect child health from corporate interference:

(PP5) Emphasizing that protecting, promoting and supporting breastfeeding as well as ensuring the protection of children’s and women’s rights from harmful effects and interference of marketing by breast-milk substitute manufacturers and distributors are both relevant for the implementation of States Parties’ commitments under the United NationsConvention on the Rights of the Child;

(PP7) Recognizing that digital marketing, including influencer marketing, has become the dominant form of marketing in many countries;3 that when not effectively regulated, it leads to harmful impact on public health; and that parents and caregivers in every country of the world are exposed to direct and indirect promotions of breast-milk substitutes;

(PP9) Noting the importance of ensuring that information on infant and young child feeding available to health professionals and consumers is unbiased, objective, evidence- based, free of conflicts of interest and in accordance with WHO recommendations;

(PP12) Reiterating the need for good governance practices that include safeguards against possible conflicts of interest when developing and implementing regulatory measures to regulate the digital marketing of breastmilk substitutes, the need for mandatory regulatory measures as voluntary measures have proven ineffective or insufficient for the implementation of the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes,5 and the importance of ensuring that effective monitoring and enforcement systems are developed to function in a transparent, and independent manner that is free from commercial influence;