WHO Executive Board Meeting in
Geneva.
Text of
today's intervention by Dr. Arun Gupta on behalf of
Consumers International/IBFAN
Agenda Item
8.2: Infant and Young Child Feeding.
Mr Chairman,
Director General, Members of the Board, friends, good
afternoon. I welcome the opportunity to speak on behalf
of the International Organisation of Consumer Unions,
which I will refer to as CI. On the issue of infant
feeding, CI is a partner with the International Baby
Food Action Network, (IBFAN) a network of over 150 citizens
groups who have been working to protect infant health
in more than 90 countries, for the last two decades.
We welcome
the report of the Secretariat on infant and young child
nutrition and the report of the collaboration within
the UN system especially regarding the ILO Maternity
Protection Convention. We would urge greater support
for breastfeeding and maintaining the right to nursing
breaks for working mothers.
Since time
is limited, I shall concentrate on 4 issues:
Firstly,
the question of new partnerships.
We recognise
WHO's desire to develop new partnerships with the private
sector. This effort to encourage social responsibility
by corporations is a laudable motive. However when linked
to fundraising, the dangers that such partnerships will
be used for public relations purposes and dependency
are great. For companies, sponsorship of good causes
is a well-known marketing tool, which they often use
to offset criticism.
Companies
are experts at PR, and have enormous resources and some
have annual promotion budgets 4 times the size of WHO's
total budget - which they can use to advertise even
the smallest reference to "partnership" with
a prestigious organisation such as WHO.
An example,
of how public relations is used is this 180 page book,
which is addressed to the Director General and has been
sent to governments, health workers and NGOs all over
the world. The book contains letters from more than
50 governments, which a company claims testify its compliance
with the International Code. IBFAN had to spend time,
energy and funds to analyse this document and the company
has now had to apologise to several countries for misrepresenting
their views. These are not simple errors. This is not
the effective monitoring expected.
UNICEF has
also done an analysis and in their letter of 31 December
1999 to the company has stated that in at least 21 countries
the claims of national Code compliance could not be
supported and also questioned the appropriateness of
the methodology that has been used.
Secondly
and related, the issue of commercial sponsorship and
conflict of interest is of critical importance in infant
feeding, and especially in HIV where so many questions
regarding the impact of different patterns of breastfeeding
remain unanswered. We have the right to expect that
the direction and research priorities of the UN are
not influenced by commercial interests. The pharmaceutical
and baby food industry, both have clear vested interests
in the outcome of research into Mother to Child Transmission
and are urging UN agencies to enter into partnerships,
allegedly in an effort to rescue babies but in reality
they are hoping to expand their markets. One US baby
milk and pharmaceutical company on its website, in July
1999 stated that:
"...education
also increases sales of HIV products by developing the
HIV marketplace...the returns will ultimately materialise...most
of this HIV market is untapped..."
Should such
a company provide information for mothers and doctors
on HIV and infant feeding? Should it be encouraged to
take women to be tested for HIV in countries such as
South Africa?
Thirdly,
in Doc EB 105/36, paragraph 12, entitled, Progress in
implementing the International Code states that 160
(84%) Member States have reported to WHO on action taken.
This projects much too rosy a picture. We know that
only 21 countries have implemented the International
Code and the relevant Resolutions in their entirety
by enacting legislation while another 24 have sound
draft laws pending enactment. We hope that interference
by industry will not delay the enactment of these drafts
at country level.
IBFAN has
contributed significantly to national legislation by
training some 400 government officials from 90 countries
and developing the IBFAN Code Handbook, which now exists
in 4 languages. Another important contribution is IBFAN's
continuous health worker training, monitoring, and raising
awareness, campaigning and advocacy. Thousands of health
workers and millions of people at grass roots level
are now aware of the Code and Resolutions and are taking
action to protect infant health.
Lastly, we
would like to draw your attention to the following suggestions:
- IBFAN
has submitted comments about some of the serious weaknesses
contained in the first draft of the Guidelines for
Interaction with Commercial Enterprises and we strongly
urge WHO to take them into account. We do have copies
available for Members.
- We encourage
WHO to ensure that its entire staff consistently uphold
the importance of the Code and Resolutions at all
times, and especially when dealing with media and
other enquirers.
- The European
Parliament has decided to hold regular Public Hearings,
in which the activities of European-based companies
in relation to developing countries will be examined.
The baby food issue is the first item on the agenda.
WHO might like to assist parliamentarians in this
endeavour.
- WHO could
write to its WRs to confirm, or not, statements made
in the book I referred to earlier.
In a world
where health care systems and services are increasingly
being privatised, there is an urgent need for WHO to
protect its status as a truly independent advocate for
human rights and public health. WHO is the highest health
policy setting body in the world, and CI, as well as
IBFAN, are more than keen to work with you. However,
we do urge WHO to ensure that its policies, programmes
and research priorities, reflect its mission at all
times, so that our efforts to protect infants, children
and their mothers are in harmony.
Thank you
for giving us the opportunity to speak to you today.
