Staff Reporter :
Different baby food producing companies overlooking ‘Breast Milk Substitutes (BMS) Law 2013 have been marketing for baby food in the country. It has become a major challenge in increasing exclusive breastfeeding rate in the country, study said.
These companies lure the physicians with attractive packages of privileges to prescribe their brands for newborns, infants and children, spend huge amount of money on advertisements, dissuade the media house owners and the journalists from making objective news about their manoeuvrings and advertise their brands under social welfare activities like establishing breastfeeding corners.
Rather the general people, even the mothers and children’s families, lured by the dazzling ads and powerful marketing system, are buying the formulas and commercially produced baby foods.
Speakers said these on Thursday at the BRAC Centre in the Dhaka city on a research report titled ‘Role of stakeholders in promoting breastfeeding in the light of the Breast Milk Substitutes (BMS) Law 2013 in rural areas of Bangladesh’.
BRAC Advocacy for Social Change organised the event to introduce the research report, carried out by BRAC Research and Evaluation
Division. The research was published in April 2014. A survey was carried out in total six upazilas, three upazilas of Jessore, namely Sharsha, Abhaynagar and Jessore Sadar, and three upazilas of Sylhet, namely Balaganj, Fenchuganj and Bianibazar.
Dr Kaosar Afsana, Director, BRAC Health, Nutrition Population Programme, gave the welcome speech at the event. Fahmida Akter, Staff Researcher, BRAC RED presented the keynote paper. Professor Dr Abdul Hannan, Additional Director general, Directorate General of Health and Services, attended as the chief guest, while Dr Tapan Kumar Biswas, Deputy Director, Institute of Public Health and Nutrition was the special guest.
Presided over by Dr Ahmed Mustaque Raza Chowdhury, Vice-Chairperson, BRAC, the programme was addressed, among others, by former IPHN director Dr Md Shah Nawaz, Bangladesh Breastfeeding Foundation Chairperson Dr SK Roy, CSA For Sun Bangladesh Chairperson Dr Rukhsana Haider, BRAC Advocacy for Social Change programme coordinator Sadrul Hasan Mazumder and Bangladesh Health Reporters’ Forum president Toufiq Maruf.
According to the research findings, although the physicians, staff from the health administration and members of the law enforcing agencies are generally informed about the law, it lacks detailed knowledge on it. It further reveals that the formula companies devise ways and means so the physicians can prescribe their brands under anonymity.
Speakers further said the companies are misleading the mothers and children.
They are deceived by the glittering ads and cannot understand that the formulas and the baby foods are harmful for children’s growth, both mental and physical.
The research also finds that the perfect time for intervention for the formula companies is just after the delivery when mothers’ breasts take some time to produce milk for the newborns and when the mothers start coming back to office after end of the maternity leave.
Dr Ahmed Mustaque Raza Chowdhury in his closing speech thanked the guests and said, ‘We hope that this research will be helpful in taking up measures for effective implementation of the BMS Law’.
Different baby food producing companies overlooking ‘Breast Milk Substitutes (BMS) Law 2013 have been marketing for baby food in the country. It has become a major challenge in increasing exclusive breastfeeding rate in the country, study said.
These companies lure the physicians with attractive packages of privileges to prescribe their brands for newborns, infants and children, spend huge amount of money on advertisements, dissuade the media house owners and the journalists from making objective news about their manoeuvrings and advertise their brands under social welfare activities like establishing breastfeeding corners.
Rather the general people, even the mothers and children’s families, lured by the dazzling ads and powerful marketing system, are buying the formulas and commercially produced baby foods.
Speakers said these on Thursday at the BRAC Centre in the Dhaka city on a research report titled ‘Role of stakeholders in promoting breastfeeding in the light of the Breast Milk Substitutes (BMS) Law 2013 in rural areas of Bangladesh’.
BRAC Advocacy for Social Change organised the event to introduce the research report, carried out by BRAC Research and Evaluation
Division. The research was published in April 2014. A survey was carried out in total six upazilas, three upazilas of Jessore, namely Sharsha, Abhaynagar and Jessore Sadar, and three upazilas of Sylhet, namely Balaganj, Fenchuganj and Bianibazar.
Dr Kaosar Afsana, Director, BRAC Health, Nutrition Population Programme, gave the welcome speech at the event. Fahmida Akter, Staff Researcher, BRAC RED presented the keynote paper. Professor Dr Abdul Hannan, Additional Director general, Directorate General of Health and Services, attended as the chief guest, while Dr Tapan Kumar Biswas, Deputy Director, Institute of Public Health and Nutrition was the special guest.
Presided over by Dr Ahmed Mustaque Raza Chowdhury, Vice-Chairperson, BRAC, the programme was addressed, among others, by former IPHN director Dr Md Shah Nawaz, Bangladesh Breastfeeding Foundation Chairperson Dr SK Roy, CSA For Sun Bangladesh Chairperson Dr Rukhsana Haider, BRAC Advocacy for Social Change programme coordinator Sadrul Hasan Mazumder and Bangladesh Health Reporters’ Forum president Toufiq Maruf.
According to the research findings, although the physicians, staff from the health administration and members of the law enforcing agencies are generally informed about the law, it lacks detailed knowledge on it. It further reveals that the formula companies devise ways and means so the physicians can prescribe their brands under anonymity.
Speakers further said the companies are misleading the mothers and children.
They are deceived by the glittering ads and cannot understand that the formulas and the baby foods are harmful for children’s growth, both mental and physical.
The research also finds that the perfect time for intervention for the formula companies is just after the delivery when mothers’ breasts take some time to produce milk for the newborns and when the mothers start coming back to office after end of the maternity leave.
Dr Ahmed Mustaque Raza Chowdhury in his closing speech thanked the guests and said, ‘We hope that this research will be helpful in taking up measures for effective implementation of the BMS Law’.
