Infant Feeding Board asked to monitor Breastfeeding Act
March 06, 2014
LAHORE
THE Punjab government has notified the Infant Feeding Board to monitor the implementation of the Punjab Protection of Breastfeeding and Young Child Nutrition (Amendment) Act 2012. An NGO termed the setting up of the Infant Feeding Board a step in the right direction to effectively implement the law.
In a press release issued in Lahore, it is informed that the Punjab Protection of Breastfeeding and Young Child Nutrition (Amendment) Act 2012 prohibits making propagation of any material or assertion in any manner by a manufacturer or a distributor that encourages bottle-feeding or discourages breastfeeding.
The law also prohibits assertion in any manner that any designated product is a substitute for mother’s milk or equivalent or superior to mother’s milk by any person or presentation of a gift or any other benefit to a health worker or medical practitioner liable to the same penalties.
The law also makes it obligatory on manufacturers of a designated product to publish on its container a conspicuous notice in bold characters that “Mother’s milk is best for your baby and helps in preventing diarrhea and other illnesses.”
Pakistan voted in favour of adopting the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk substitutes during the World Health Assembly in May 1981 and promulgated “The Protection of Breastfeeding and Young Child Nutrition Ordinance 2002” to enforce the code. The ordinance prohibits the promotion of any milk produced as partial or total replacement for mother’s milk or represented as a complement to mother’s milk to meet the growing nutritional needs of an infant. Last year, Sindh Assembly adopted the law as “The Sindh Protection of Breastfeeding and Young Child Nutrition Act 2013”.
The NGO believes that the setting up of Infant Feeding Board is a commitment from the Government of Punjab for the effective implementation of the Punjab Protection of Breastfeeding and Young Child Nutrition (Amendment) Act. Implementation of the breastfeeding law will go a long way to promote the breastfeeding (especially exclusive breastfeeding) and discourage bottle feeding which will in return put a definite dent in the high prevalence of childhood illnesses (Diarrhoea and Pneumonia).
THE Punjab government has notified the Infant Feeding Board to monitor the implementation of the Punjab Protection of Breastfeeding and Young Child Nutrition (Amendment) Act 2012. An NGO termed the setting up of the Infant Feeding Board a step in the right direction to effectively implement the law.
In a press release issued in Lahore, it is informed that the Punjab Protection of Breastfeeding and Young Child Nutrition (Amendment) Act 2012 prohibits making propagation of any material or assertion in any manner by a manufacturer or a distributor that encourages bottle-feeding or discourages breastfeeding.
The law also prohibits assertion in any manner that any designated product is a substitute for mother’s milk or equivalent or superior to mother’s milk by any person or presentation of a gift or any other benefit to a health worker or medical practitioner liable to the same penalties.
The law also makes it obligatory on manufacturers of a designated product to publish on its container a conspicuous notice in bold characters that “Mother’s milk is best for your baby and helps in preventing diarrhea and other illnesses.”
Pakistan voted in favour of adopting the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk substitutes during the World Health Assembly in May 1981 and promulgated “The Protection of Breastfeeding and Young Child Nutrition Ordinance 2002” to enforce the code. The ordinance prohibits the promotion of any milk produced as partial or total replacement for mother’s milk or represented as a complement to mother’s milk to meet the growing nutritional needs of an infant. Last year, Sindh Assembly adopted the law as “The Sindh Protection of Breastfeeding and Young Child Nutrition Act 2013”.
The NGO believes that the setting up of Infant Feeding Board is a commitment from the Government of Punjab for the effective implementation of the Punjab Protection of Breastfeeding and Young Child Nutrition (Amendment) Act. Implementation of the breastfeeding law will go a long way to promote the breastfeeding (especially exclusive breastfeeding) and discourage bottle feeding which will in return put a definite dent in the high prevalence of childhood illnesses (Diarrhoea and Pneumonia).
