Tuesday, February 25, 2003

icBirmingham - City 'hostile to breast feeding'
Feb 24 2003
By Sophie Blakemore, Birmingham Post
"A new report has called on Birmingham City Council and the NHS to provide more facilities and support to encourage mothers to breast-feed. The report, Children's Nutrition - Mothers Who Wish to Breast-Feed, calls for more support for mothers at home, in the workplace and facilities in public places. Rates of breast-feeding in Birmingham are ten to 20 per cent lower than the national average of 70 per cent - and the review has suggested that if breast-feeding rates across the city were increased to 90 per cent, as in some Scandinavian countries, more than 250 hospital admissions of children under the age of four could be avoided each year." [If you can send me the URL for this report, or a copy, please email me at jchase@mediaworkswest.com. 0 JC]
Milk maker denies WHO code breach
South China Morning Post
Tuesday, February 25, 2003
MAY CHAN

"Baby milk maker Wyeth (HK) defended itself yesterday against claims it had breached international rules by running TV adverts suggesting its formula milk helped make children smarter and healthier. The South China Morning Post reported yesterday how the company had been accused of breaching a World Health Organisation (WHO) code by breast-milk advocate Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative Hong Kong Association. The association said that the nutrient value of "Promil Gold" had been exaggerated in an advert aired on TVB Jade. It had been suggested that drinking the product would make babies smart and healthy. The International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes by the WHO says there should be no advertising on breast-milk substitutes and the use of images of babies on products should be banned. Wyeth medical affairs manager Sandra Lui Siu-hung said the advertisement concentrated on another milk product targeting children aged three to seven, and only showed one frame of "Promil Gold" along with other products."
BBC NEWS | Health | Safe birth hope for refugees
Tuesday, 25 February, 2003, 10:20 GMT
By Caroline Ryan
BBC News Online health staff
[Feature on Armenian refugees flooding into Azerbaijan and a program to help provide safer birth and breastfeeding information by UK charity HealthProm. Of note, the program is funded thus: "The three year programme, run by HealthProm, which carries out work across the former Soviet Union, and funded by GlaxoSmithKline is part of a national reproductive health strategy developed in conjunction with the Azerbaijan government. GSK now plans to put £220,000 into the "Safe Childbirth" initiative." - JC]