Monitor carefully advertising on breast milk substitute

It is reported that the major companies who produce breast milk substitutes in Bangladesh are violating laws which were adopted by the World Health Assembly of the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1981 for breastfeeding promotion worldwide. Breast milk substitute providers’ are violating laws by advertising the erroneous fact that substitutes like powdered milk are an equivalent alternative to the breast milk fed to infants, continuing marketing, distribution and selling and using child’s, mother’s or both’s photos on breast milk substitutes’ containers or packets though these are prohibited. Some other companies are violating law as they have not taken registration from concerned authorities.
 A source said that 70% of mothers in Bangladesh feed non-breast milk foods like breast milk substitutes to infants before they are 6 months old. In low income countries like Bangladesh, artificial feeding produces an excess of post-neonatal deaths per million births ranging from 11,290 to 112,900. The latest results of Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey show only 21 percent families strictly follow the Under-2 breastfeeding practices and others take substitutes.
It is noticeable that children’s under-weight and-height is partly due to their consumption of breast milk substitutes and in some cases, it causes children health risks as well. Many breast milk substitute providers lax pathological certificates about their commodities’ quality of intake which may seriously impair the health of the child. A London based journal claimed that non-qualified breast milk substitute even helps develop cancer but it has no clinical basis to corroborate the claim. Besides, raw and unpasteurized milk can expose consumers to many serious infectious diseases, including hepatitis, HIV etc.
In March of this year, a report to the government noticed that 10 baby food companies and doctors were violating the laws in marketing and promoting breast milk substitutes. But the government is not taking the necessary corrective action.
Mothers in Bangladesh often feel embarrassed to talk about breastfeeding. Not many workplaces have crèches and areas for women to breastfeed their babies. Even hospitals lack space to facilitate breastfeeding. Having no other alternatives, mothers use breast milk substitutes.
Yet, public awareness is crucial because we have seen children of the well-off families use these substitutes for considerations of personal convenience. Laws are of no use when there is no guarantee that those will not be used for corruption.