World Breastfeeding Conference 2012
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World Breastfeeding Trends Initiative (WBTi)
Action Initiated in 82 Countries
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ALL ABOUT US - JOIN IBFAN!

IBFAN Statement on Infant and Young Child Feeding and Chemical Residues
IBFAN Statement on Infant and Young Child Feeding and Chemical Residues
Parents, carers and health professionals are rightly concerned about all the problems in infant and young child feeding in a contaminated world. The repeated ........

THE LAUNCHING OF IBFAN, Geneva, 12 October 1979

This statement was made by Anwar Fazal, then President of the International Organization of Consumers Unions (IOCU), on October 12 1979 at the WHO/UNICEF meeting on Infant and Young Child Feeding, held in Geneva, Switzerland from 9-12 October 1979...


   
Celebrating our 30th Anniversary!!
global breastfeeding initiative for child survival
Click here to watch this short graphic presentation of what gBICS is all about
The global Breastfeeding Initiative for Child Survival “gBICS” in SCN News.
Link

International Code Documentation Centre (ICDC) Resources

Who should read it?
• Regulators who need to enforce national laws.
• Compliance officers who need to know what the Code and national regulations require them to do.
• Code monitors who need legal insights into compliance.

NEW! Available Oct 2012

Complying with the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes and subsequent WHA resolutions
A Guide for Regulators and Compliance Staff

Do companies abide by the International Code of Marketing? Companies say they do. Critics say they don’t. It has been a controversy for 20 years.

This 64 page book provides guidance on the Code and resolutions. It also gives extracts from corporate responses to the Code, followed by brief analyses.
It shows where the baby feeding industry is failing to fulfil its obligations under the Code and what it can do to improve compliance.

To purchase this book go to
the Resource Centre

State of the Code by Country 2011 ('Blue SOC')

This commemorative issue, released to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the Code, shows how 197 countries implement the Code at the national level. The Blue SOC grades national measure
on a fixed set of criteria based on scope, ambit and enforceability. Find out which countries have laws and which countries have done nothing.

Each chart is sold at US$5 per copy.
Write to ibfanpg@tm.net.my for more details.

NOTE: State of the Code by Country 2009 ('Blue SOC') and
State of the Code by Company 2009 ('Red SOC')
still available.


Breaking the Rules, Stretching the Rules 2010

This 208-page report details the latest marketing strategies used by baby food manufacturers
and exposes violations of the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes and
subsequent World Health Assembly resolutions over the three years from end 2007 to end 2010.

Independent monitors from over 46 countries contributed evidence showing that breastfeeding still
faces multi-million dollar competition from baby feeding companies using new ways to promote their products.

Here you can download the Executive Summary for FREE.

 


Click here to download the four-page summary of Breaking the Rules, Stretching the Rules 2011. This document is free of charge.
IBFAN Press Release
May 12 2011

For the launch of the Breaking the Rules, Stretching the Rules 2010 at the Geneva Press Club, Geneva, Switzerland - LINK
Post-BTR Update May 2011!
Check out IBFAN-ICDC’s
newly released report on Fonterra/Anmum - Link

the 11th Edition of Protecting Infant Health - the Health Workers’ Guide to the Code

Completely Revised and Updated!

*_También disponible en Español_*

"Protecting Infant Health", IBFAN's flagship publication for health workers has gone into its 11th edition. It has been completely re-written and illustrated. This popular booklet is designed to make the legal Code language easy to understand. An ideal resource especially for those health workers who are concerned about commercial influence on their profession and in health facilities.

"Protecting Infant Health" shows how active use of the Code can make a difference, protect breastfeeding and save lives. It also discusses current issues such as the Code in the context of emergencies, HIV and bf , health claims and sponsorship.  (A5 - 80 pages with Code and resolutions)

IBFAN
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The International Baby Food Action Network - consists of public interest groups working around the world to reduce infant and young child morbidity and mortality.
Click here


Regional Sites
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IBFAN is arranged into eight operative regions with Regional Co-ordination Offices (RCO) and (in some cases) with IBFAN regional websites. Click here


Information to consumers
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Do you know that powdered baby milks or formulas, even in sealed and unopened packets, are not sterile products?



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If you want to receive our latest news, now you can subscribe the IBFAN Website RSS newsfeeds from here!

 

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"Breastfeeding at the Committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights.

In 2013, IBFAN-GIFA submitted to the CESCR five alternative reports on the situation of infant and young child feeding in Azerbaijan, Denmark (50th session), Austria, Belarus and Egypt (51st pre-session). The reports aim at sensitizing the Committee on the issue of infant and young child feeding and its importance for the full implementation of the rights enshrined in the International Covenant, in particular the right to health and food. The IBFAN-GIFA team presented the reports orally at a meetings of the CESCR with NGOs."

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IBFAN Africa Advanced Infant and Young Child Feeding Policy and Practice Course

Venue: Airport Grand Hotel;                Johannesburg (South Africa)
Date:   13 – 26 October 2013

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New IBFAN Comments on WHO's Plan of Action on NCDs and Conflicts of interest More information
 
New comments on WHO’s engagement with non-State actors More information
 
Links on conflicts of interest More information
 
Call for input on UN Forum On Business And Human Rights Deadline 12 April 2013.
United Nations Forum on Business and Human Rights States, business, civil society and other stakeholders can submit suggestions for the 2013 United Nations Forum on Business and Human Rights. Submissions may be sent to forumbhr@ohchr.org by 12 April 2013.

More information
61st Session - Short Report on UN Committee on the Rights of the Child
The 61st session of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC Committee) took place from 17 September to 5 October 2012 in Geneva. The Committee reviewed the progress of the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 7 countries: Albania, Andorra, Austria, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Canada, Liberia and Namibia.
Link to the document
More information
GAIN –industry’s Trojan Horse fails to enter WHO’s policy setting process
The failure of GAIN (the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition) to obtain official relations status with the World Health Organisation (WHO) as an NGO, has been warmly welcomed by health campaigners and the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN). GAIN is a new type of public private entity which claims to works to tackle malnutrition.
More information
IBFAN-GIFA Newsletter
Second Issue!

In this issue you will find information about the World Breastfeeding Conference, CRC Committee, WHO reform, Right to Food and Nutrition Watch, Contaminants in baby foods, Maternity Protection, World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) in Europe and more!
Open the Newsletter
More information

ICDC - Legal Update
January 2013
In the new number you can find information about the legal regulation in South Africa and Kenya and different activities all around the world.
Link to the document
More information
Reports and briefings on Contaminants in Baby Foods (and Product Recall List)
Is now available the Recall List updated up to November 2012.
Link to the list
More information
The Convention on the Rights of the Child
IBFAN Reports on the situation of Breastfeeding Guinea, available in english and french.
More reports
Breastfeeding in the Post Millennium Development
Goals Era
As the target date for the Millennium Development Goals approaches, the international community has started discussions around the “Post 2015 development agenda”. To this end IBFAN participated in the e-consultation on ‘Hunger, Food and Nutrition Security’. Our submission to this process reiterated the importance of breastfeeding and infant and young child feeding for reaching the MDGs, and the importance of protection, promotion and support of breastfeeding in the post 2015 development agenda.
Read full submission HERE
To make a submission follow this link
The Convention on the Rights of the Child
IBFAN Reports on the situation of Breastfeeding Malta and Luxembourg.
More reports
IBFAN Comments on SUN
IBFAN has prepared a Discussion Paper on the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) initiative outlining our concerns about the role of businesses.
In view of these concerns IBFAN and many of its allies cannot support the SUN initiative.
However, we are open to discuss our recommendations with the SUN leadership, governments and public interest groups The paper can be accessed on this link
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Yes Medela violates the code!
IBFAN-ICDC prepared this document about Medela and their continue work on the marketing of their products and the International Code violations.
Link
Allaitement Actualités
N° 48 49 50 51 52 and 53
Now available the Breastfeeding Briefs into french.
See all Editions
New edition!
Breastfeeding Briefs N°54
Pacifiers and breastfeeding.
Read
|| More Editions
IBFAN submission to the OHCHR study on the children’s right to health
IBFAN contributed to the upcoming Study on the child’s right to health by OHCHR, through a submission that highlighted key issues related to infant and young child feeding, and to breastfeeding in particular, and their relation to the right of the child to the highest attainable standard of health. Read the full submission
IBFAN and 20 NGOs Call for Improvements in WHO-NGO Relations
IBFAN and 20 other NGOs worldwide call on WHO to distinguish between public interest and business interest NGOs. Read the Memo to the Director General Link
Why IBFAN Has Not Signed on the Civil Society Pledge of ‘A Renewed Promise’ Initiative
IBFAN finds problematic the inclusion of the private sector due to conflicts of interest that risk jeopardizing the child’s rights to survival and development.
Read IBFAN’s full response
Civil Society Organizations Call for a Turnaround in Global Decision-Making on Food and Nutrition
The 5th Right to Food and Nutrition Watch, launched the 25th September, analyses the increasing influence and control of agribusiness and financial actors on food and nutrition. It alerts on a worrying trend of global public private partnerships (PPP) that increasingly sideline lessons learned about the social determinants of nutrition and bypass decision-making of intergovernmental institutions.
Read More
Stop Press! The latest on Contaminants in baby Food
USA bans BPA in baby bottles and sippy cups, but not in all food contact materials for childre
(Update September 20 2012)
Link
The ICDC will present a NEW Book ! Available Oct 2012
Complying with the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes and subsequent WHA resolutions - A Guide for Regulators and Compliance Staff - More information
Dr Gandhi Vi Demanya (1945—2012)
Dr Gandhi, founder and coordinator of the IBFAN group Ghana Infant Nutrition Action Network (GINAN), passed away on 20 August 2012. Read the tribute and a brief story of his life here.
The Convention on the Rights of the Child
IBFAN Reports on the situation of Breastfeeding Albania, Armenia, Austria (see also Annex Violations), Canada and Niue islands.
More reports
Contaminants in Baby Food - Recall List update
Now available the ICDC´s Product Recall List updated to September 2012. Link
Report on the Situation of Infant and Young Child Feeding in LIBERIA and NAMIBIA
The Convention on the Rights of the Child - Session 61 - September 2012.
Link
WHO Reform and Public Interest Safeguards: An Historical Perspective
Article by Judith Richter publicated on Social Medicine (Volume 6, Number 3, March 2012).
Link
|| More resources on Sponsorship and conflict of interest
Last WHA Resolution on Maternal, infant and young child nutrition
Here is available the last WHA Resolution 65.6 adopted subsequent to the International Code. Link
New ICDC Legal Update!
Now is available the last number of the ICDC Legal Update: July 2012.
Read
|| More Editions
IBFAN-GIFA Newsletter
First Issue!
GIFA’s recent yearly General Assembly (30 May 2012) suggested that IBFAN-GIFA prepare a short Newsletter with information from the GIFA office, on a twice-yearly basis. We hope that such a Newsletter will serve as a means of communicating our most recent and important activities, both with our membership and with other colleagues around the world. Open the Newsletter
USA interferes with national legislation
IBFAN is now able to reveal how the US Government tried to interfere with the Vietnamese Government's legislative process as its National Assembly debated new moves to protect babies.
"It might happen in your country too; in Brasil, in South Africa, anywhere where important legislation is under discussion. Share this news and send us your findings, your concerns."
Read the PRESS RELEASE
See the US letter
60TH COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD
Governments to Strengthen Their Laws To Fully Comply With International Code. Read || More Reports
ICDC Alerts
Now available two Alerts: What in the world is APIYCNA? And why is it a danger to breastfeeding? and
Double Victory for breastfeeding
.
See More Alerts
New Report!
Look What They Are Doing 2012
The new Report is about the Monitoring Code Compliance in Alberta. Read || More Reports
IBFAN-GIFA brings together the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food and CRC Committee, to discuss the right to adequate food
Updated June 2012. Click here to read
Press release 31 May 2012
World Health Assembly Resolution tackles conflicts of interest. Read
Report on the Situation of Infant and Young Child Feeding in TURKEY and ALGERIA
The Convention on the Rights of the Child - Session 60 - June 2012.
Link
Nestlé and Food Safety: discrepancy between the company’s public statements and actual practices
Watch a clip from a Swiss TV station featuring the story of a court case brought against Nestlé by a former employee who served as Corporate Food Safety Manager and Assistant Vice-President. Link / Video
Human Rights, children and business; a joint submission by IBFAN and FIAN, May 2012
Click here to read
Report on the Situation of Infant and Young Child Feeding in CYPRUS
The Convention on the Rights of the Child - Session 60 - June 2012.
Link
Cronobacter/Enterobacter sakazakii infections: Time for Action
Article published on the March issue of "Middle East Food". Convener by IBFAN Global Working Group on Chemical and Microbiological Contamination of Infant Feeding Products (Geneva - Switzerland).
Link
All about IBFAN - new video!
Thanks to IBFAN's Geneva Office, GIFA, we are pleased to share this new video which explains the importance of IBFAN's work. The film is available in three languages: English, Spanish and French. See the video
Open letter to the Geneva Health Forum
The 2012 edition of the Geneva Health Forum will once again be sponsored by private companies such as Nestlé and Pfizer, well known Code violators. IBFAN-GIFA reacted by sending an open letter to the president.
Read the letter
Maternity protection: A new ILO Resource Package, in collaboration with IBFAN-GIFA
In April 2012 the ILO published the “Maternity Protection Resource Package. From Aspiration to Reality for All”, which results from its collaboration with the ILO International Training Centre, UNICEF, WHO, UNFPA, UN Women and IBFAN-GIFA. Link
Latest news form the Committee on the Rights of the child
During its 59th session, the CRC Committee urged governments to improve exclusive breastfeeding and enforce the International Code.
Read more
The Special Rapporteur on the right to food urges companies to comply with the Code
The December 2011 report by UN Special Rapporteur (SR) on the right to food focused on nutrition as an integral part of the right to food. Breastfeeding is key for the right of the child to an adequate diet, and an important strategy to combat undernutrition, micronutrient deficiencies and prevent obesity. The report clarifies the implications of the right to adequate food in terms of responsibilities of the infant food industry, which is urged to comply fully with the International Code and abstain from promoting breastmilk substitutes. Read more

STOP PRESS!!
Sep 25 2012: The Right to Food and Nutrition Watch 2012.
WHO DECIDES ABOUT GLOBAL
FOOD AND NUTRITION?


Jul 20 2012: USA interferes with national legislation


May 31 2012: World Health Assembly Resolution tackles
conflicts of interest


Nov 26 2011: The Business of malnutrition: breaking down trade rules to profit from the poor
 
MORE INFORMATION

EUROPEAN UNION BANS USE OF BPA IN FEEDING BOTTLES
January 19 2011

Update
USA bans BPA in baby bottles and sippy cups, but not in all food contact materials for children
September 26 2012
1- Sweden bans BPA in packaging of food for children under the age of 3
2- Has the EU already taken note of Swedish criticism?
June 12 2012
EU BAN ON USE OF BPA IN FEEDING BOTTLES ENTERS INTO FORCE

March 20 2011

CHINA FOLLOWS WITH BAN ON BPA BOTTLES
June 01 2011

Read more...

HEALTH FOR ALL
Whatever happened to Health for All?
Ups and downs of protection of breastfeeding, regulation of transnational corporations and
Health for All

Link

Global Programme Offices

The International Code Documentation Centre (ICDC) located in Penang, Malaysia supports the entire IBFAN network on Code and related matters.  It also provides training and legal advisory services to governments, international agencies and national groups on Code implementation and Code monitoring.

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The Geneva Infant Feeding Association (GIFA) serves as IBFAN'sinternational liaison office, acting as the interface between the IBFAN network and the UN agencies based in Geneva. GIFA also provides technical support to the IBFAN thematic working groups and administers and manages IBFAN's global projects and fundraising efforts.

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