Action to improve infant and young child feeding in nutrition
and child health programmes A mother prepares porridge from soy-
fortified bulgur in Guatemala Proceedings of meeting1 Over 50
researchers, programme implementers, infant feeding experts and
representatives of WHO and UNICEF headquarters departments and
regional offices gathered in Geneva in October 2008, to discuss
how to fill the gap between the progress that has been made in
defining principles for appropriate feeding for infants and
young children from 6 to 23 months and translating these into
specific policies and programmes. Participants recognised that
there are not enough examples of well-documented, largescale
programmes that have successfully improved feeding practices in
children 6-23 months of age and resulted in improved health
outcomes. Therefore, there are important weaknesses in the
evidence base for effective actions. Nevertheless, the evidence
is strong to support the following conclusions: -
Recommendations for optimal infant and