Olivier de Schutter, United Nation special Rapporteur for right to food an made recommendations to governments as to how to improve food security & promote the vital food at all levels, during the World Breastfeeding Conference in Delhi, India from the 6th -- 9th December, 2012. Though not present in Delhi, he sent a video message from New York and lauded the work of the International Baby Food Action Network Asia that was instrumental in organizing the event. He called on governments to copy the Vietnam good example, where on the 18th June 2012, the National Assembly approved the extension of paid maternity leave from 4 months to 6 months.
On 24th June, it voted to ban the advertising of Breast Milk Substitutes for infants from 6 to 24 months, aligning the country more closely with the 1981 International Code on Breastmilk Substitutes on the marketing of breastmilk substitute and subsequent World Health Assembly resolutions.
implement the International Code on the Marketing of Breastmilk Substitute, only a bit less than 50%
of the countries have provisions on enforcement and only 37 States has the World Health
Organization considered serious enforcement of these provisions.
With this, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food said, governments should ensure that the mothers are given the right message and that the efforts of government to promote breastfeeding are not nullified and made fruitless by the selling of infant formula by tmanufactures.
The International Code of 1981 is absolutely vital but it is not enough and governments must also ensure that the employers facilitate breastfeeding, by having childcare facilities in the work place. Maternity leaves allow women not to have to choose between remaining in employment and providing adequate breastfeeding to the child, he emphasised. This should also be true for public work programmes because the important part of social protection measures is often forgotten in developing countries.
Another phase for action for supporting breastfeeding is by strengthening women's rights and women's education. There was a very impressive study published in 2000 by Smith & Haddad showing that based on a cross country study, covering 25 years from 1970 to 1995 Smith & Haddad showed that 43% of the reduction of hunger in developing countries during those 25 years were attributable to improved women's education.
This is almost as much as the increase in food availability which stands at 26% and the improvements in health services at 19% together. In fact this represents 12% of the improvements to the reduction of hunger and malnutrition during this period attributable to better life expectations for women, the conclusion is that 55% of the gains against hunger, malnutrition during this period were attributable to women's education or a longer life expectancy for women.

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