The International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN)
recognizes that the prevention and control of child malnutrition
worldwide, with particular focus on undernutrition in developing
countries, constitutes a major challenge and is concerned that if left
un-checked, this poses an intolerable burden of disease and death on
poor communities and countries.
IBFAN believes that addressing child undernutrition,
apart from being a human rights imperative, is essential to achieve
Millennium Development Goals 1 and 4, and concurs with United Nation’s
MDG Report 2011 that progress in the developing regions is insufficient
to reach the target by 2015 [1].
IBFAN is convinced that child malnutrition is the
result of widespread global social and economic inequity, the
marginalization of poor communities, as well as women’s disempowerment
and lack of access to productive resources. It leads to lack of
affordable health care, inadequate support for optimal infant and young
child feeding practices, lack of sufficient water for drinking and
sanitation, resulting in repeated bouts of diarrheal and respiratory
disease and chronic hunger and malnutrition in children.
IBFAN is concerned that solutions for child
malnutrition, both its prevention and treatment, are becoming
increasingly medicalised with the use of fortified commercial foods as
"quick fixes" - ignoring community based approaches and underlying and
basic causative factors [2].
The current emphasis on commercial ready-made foods
as a treatment for acute forms of malnutrition, should not be used as a
model ‘cure for all’ [3]. Experience has shown that such interventions
are often not sustainable and ineffective in the long term. For example,
according to a UNICEF report of 2009 "…Although significant progress has
been made since 2005 in the Niger’s ability to effectively treat
severely acutely malnourished children through the community-based
approach, the prevalence of acute malnutrition remains high…" [4].
IBFAN is aware of research, which shows that the use
of fortified commercial foods leads to weight gain in undernourished
children. However, such studies do not compare the efficacy of such
ready-made foods with improved feeding practices using home-made
indigenous foods and support for optimal breastfeeding, whose
contribution to nutrition is so valuable [5]. Moreover, recent concerns
about use of these products and their impact on prevalence of obesity
and related diseases must not be taken lightly.
IBFAN also believes that the current focus of
attention on treating acute forms of malnutrition with ready-to-use
therapeutic foods should not be used to extend similar interventions to
chronic malnutrition. Since commercial fortified foods are costly, they
increase dependency on outside agencies and shift the focus from
community-based solutions, to treating malnutrition as a disease with
ready made fortified food as the magic pill. Scaling up such "quick
fixes" will delay and divert attention from action to achieve food
security.
IBFAN strongly supports the right to adequate food
for ALL and therefore calls upon governments, and all others concerned,
globally and regionally:
1. To take immediate steps to prevent
malnutrition through various measures including the enhancement of
the rates of optimal breastfeeding infant and young child feeding
practices, the provision of adequate drinking water, accessible
health care and child care support systems that are free from
inappropriate commercial influence.
2. To take meaningful steps towards resolving
underlying factors of child malnutrition in a timely manner.
3. To take steps to eliminate poverty and hunger,
by supporting sustainable food systems that that improve local food
production, availability and affordability, include women and gender
perspective in food security.
4. To implement the World Health Assembly
resolution 63.23 to end inappropriate promotion of foods for infants
and young children, including nutrition and health claims. This
should also involve regulatory measures to ban the promotion of
commercial fortified foods for malnutrition.
5. To take steps to ensure that the primary
treatment of all types of acute malnutrition is based on local foods
and supervised by a trained health professionals without undue
commercial influence.
6. To re-evaluate the use of commercial
ready-made foods in the prevention and treatment of child
malnutrition in emergencies such as man-made and/or natural
disasters and to advocate the use, wherever possible, of diverse
indigenous /local foods.
7. To ensure that international, regional and
local policies and plans of action for the prevention of child
malnutrition are based on independent research and include impact
evaluations.
The International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN) is
a 1998 Right Livelihood Award recipient. (www.ibfan.org) It
consists of more than 200 public interest groups working together around
the world to save lives of infants and young children and bring lasting
change in infant feeding practices at all levels. IBFAN aims to promote
the health and well-being of infants and young children and their
mothers through protection, promotion and support of optimal
breastfeeding and infant and young child feeding practices. IBFAN works
for the universal and full implementation of International Code of
Marketing of Breast-milk Substitute and subsequent relevant World Health
Assembly (WHA) resolutions.
IBFAN developed and issued this statement in August
2011, with wider global consultation among its’ global coordination
council members.
References
1. United Nations. The Millennium Development Goals
report 2011. Available at:
http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/pdf/(2011_E)%20MDG%20Report%202011_Book
%20LR.pdf. Accessed on 11th August 2011.
2. Schaetzel T,Nyaku A. The case for preventing
malnutrition through infant feeding and management of childhood illness:
USAID’s Infant & young child nutrition project. Available at:
http://www.path.org/files/IYCN_the_ case_prev_mal_pos.pdf. Accessed on
11th August 2011.
3. Sachs J. Saying Nuts to Hunger. Available at:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-sachs/saying-nuts-to-hunger_b_706798.html.
Accessed on 12th August 2011.
4. UNICEF. ‘Tracking Progress’: UNICEF report calls
for urgent international action on nutrition. Available at: http://
www.unicef.org/nutrition/index_51688.html. Accessed on 12th August 2012.
5. Dewey KG. Nutrition, growth, and complementary
feeding of the breastfed infant. Pediatr Clin North Am. 2001;48):87-104.
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