South African health professional associations urged to end commercial milk formula industry sponsorship
As part of our work on the commercial determinants of child health, we've co-written an article in the Journal of the Colleges of Medicine of South Africa for anyone that is concerned about the conflicts of interest that are created when health professionals and their associations accept funding from the commercial formula milk industry.
The benefits of breastfeeding are unequivocal and include public health, societal, economic and environmental advantages across the lifespan. Despite this, the commercial milk formula industry continues to grow. The pervasive marketing practices used by this industry include active targeting of health professionals, including doctors, nurses, midwives and dietitians, who are trusted sources of advice for parents on infant and young child feeding.
In 2012, South Africa legislated the Regulations Relating to Foodstuffs for Infants and Young Children (R991), housed within the Foodstuffs, Cosmetics and Disinfectants Act (54 of 1972), to legalise and enforce the Code. While R991 prohibits health professionals working with infants and young children from accepting any direct financial contributions or sponsorship from the commercial milk formula manufacturers, they currently allow sponsorship of meetings for health professionals where infant and young child nutrition is on the agenda, provided it is paid into a pool of funds in a fair and transparent manner. The current regulations do not prohibit industry from offering financial contributions to professional associations or their events and are being revised to address these loopholes and ensure alignment with latest evidence and global guidance.
The World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF have issued clear unequivocal guidance including through World Health Assembly resolutions that health care institutions and professional associations should refuse sponsorship from the commercial formula milk industry.
The United South African Neonatal Association and South African Paediatric Association have issued firm position statements aligned with the WHO guidance. Hopefully other health professional associations will follow.