Promotion of breast milk substitutes

Demand for ban gathers steam

By our correspondent

Islamabad: Scaling Up Nutrition Civil Society Alliance (SUNCSA, Pak) a coalition of over 150 civil society organisations, has condemned the unethical promotion of Breast Milk Substitutes (BMS), which are easily available over the counter at pharmacies and grocery stores, and has urged the government to implement the Protection of Breastfeeding and Child Nutrition laws by holding regular meetings of Infant Feeding Boards, and investing in independent monitoring, free from commercial interests.

The demand comes in the wake of the unveiling of a global report on BMS code violations launched by International NGOs Tuesday. Titled ‘Don’t Push It,’ the report reveals that six companies today are among leaders of the aggressive global promotion of milk formula and other foods for very young children – Nestlé, Danone, Racket Benckiser (who recently acquired Mead Johnson), Abbott, Friesland Campina and Kraft Heinz.

Evidence shows this aggressive marketing is driven from the most senior levels of the BMS companies. While the problem is global, there is evidence that developing countries suffer the most. In countries with limited access to sufficient, safe and affordable water and adequate sanitation, and with a high prevalence of acute respiratory infections, diarrhoea and measles, the consequences of a mother switching to infant formula can be a matter of life and death for the child.

The lives and the health of millions of vulnerable children are at risk from the rapid growth of the market for baby milk formula. The growth of the industry is no accident. While the need for certain infants to be formula-fed is recognised, much of the infant formula market growth stems from powerful marketing campaigns that have led mothers to limit or abandon breastfeeding.

The rapid growth of baby formula milk calls for action by the federal and provincial governments. It is the responsibility of the government to promote, protect and support breastfeeding as part of their obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child to help ensure children’s right to survival.

SUNCSA Pak has called on manufacturers and distributors of breast milk substitutes, investors and governments to create a conducive environment to help millions of Pakistani children get the healthiest start in life. “The global manufacturers and local distributors of breast milk substitutes should publicly commit to upholding the Code and its subsequent resolutions; and agree to meet targets set to achieve full compliance,” a press release issued by the organization demands.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) code, established in the aftermath of a Nestlé boycott of the 1970s, states there should be “no promotion to the public” of breast milk substitutes because of irrefutable evidence that breastfeeding provides children with the best start in life.

Breast milk offers all the antibodies and immunity a baby needs to fight life-threatening disease like pneumonia, which kills more children under five years of age than any other disease. An estimated 823,000 child deaths would be prevented each year if all babies were breastfed—that’s nearly one in seven of all deaths of children under the age of five, globally. Babies who are not breastfed are about nine times more likely to die from pneumonia than those who are fed breast milk.

According to Pakistan’s Demographic Health Survey, the percentage of exclusive breastfeeding for first 6 months of a child’s life has only risen by a fraction from 37.1 per cent in 2006-07 to 37.7 per cent in 2012-13. However, when it comes to the bottle-feeding race, Pakistan has no close competitors; bottle-feeding rates have risen from an already undesirable 32.1 percent in 2006-07 to a shamefully high 41 percent in 2012-13. Pakistan has enacted protection and promotion of breastfeeding laws but implementation of these laws remained a challenge due to multiple reasons.