In June, IBFAN, the International Baby Food Action Network, made a clear call when it launched its ‘One Million Campaign: Support Women to Breastfeed’ ( www.onemillioncampaign.org ) at the World Health Assembly. The IBFAN team submitted a petition to the President of World Health Assembly, Mr. NS de Silva, signed by more than 45,000 people from 161 countries.

The petition demands concrete support systems for breastfeeding women to increase the coverage of early and exclusive breastfeeding. This would help save more than 1 million newborn and infant lives annually, as well improve the health of their mothers. Needless to say, it would also set a path for healthy adult life.

Dr. Arun Gupta, the regional coordinator of IBFAN Asia, went on to present the demands of the petition to the World Health Assembly, urging the Assembly to adopt a resolution in 2010 to deal with four key issues:

·         to prepare a specific plan of action on infant feeding which is budgeted and coordinated in the same way as action plans for immunization.

·         to ensure the end of promotion of baby milks and foods intended for children younger than 2.

·         to end partnerships in the area of infant and young child feeding and nutrition with commercial sector corporations that present conflicts of interest.

·         to create support and maternity entitlements for women both in the formal and informal sectors, so that mothers and babies can stay close to each other for six months at least.

Today, the World Health Organization recognized the importance for infants to be exclusively breastfed: at the launch of the World Health Statistics Report 2009, for the first time, this key indicator was included in the statistics. While including an indicator on exclusive breastfeeding is good step forward, says Alison Linnecar, of IBFAN, "Early and exclusive breastfeeding should be monitored in the process of tracking progress of Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 4 goal of child survival, both nationally and globally."

The report reveals that about only 48 million of 135 million babies born are able to benefit from exclusive breastfeeding, due to reasons such as aggressive promotion of baby milks and baby foods and lack of supportive health systems.

Many countries have still to enact national legislation to end this promotion in compliance with the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes that was adopted by the World Health Assembly in 1981. Says Annelies Allain of IBFAN, “Action must be accelerated on this crucial intervention.”

According to Dr Gupta, "There is an increasing trend towards mobilizing public private partnerships in these areas, which is not healthy. These are a way for corporations to increase their profits….It is business for corporations meeting their basic objectives. Commercial interference on parents’ infant feeding decisions should end."

For more information, contact Arun Gupta, IBFAN Asia, arun@ibfanasia.org.