Dear all:

The recently posted letter by Elaine has already been discussed on Lactnet.  Since this information 
came out, Anne Veneman extended the position for the Legal Advisor at UNICEF by six more 
months.    While she initially allowed the "decentralization" of this function to go through, she did 
reverse the decision.   The process of decentralization of breastfeeding support started under 
Carol Bellamy's watch despite the efforts of some very good technical people who were supporting 
breastfeeding in UNICEF.  So the problem is much broader than just the recent appointment of 
Anne Veneman. 

Since she is showing signs of being responsive, any letter should praise her for taking the 
courageous step of extending the position of legal advisor and then make the case for why this 
should be more than just a six month extension.

Go to the UNICEF website and look at the stats on exclusive breastfeeding for six months.  You 
will be shocked at the stats for Africa.  Look up that Lancet article that shows how much reduction 
in mortality can be reduced by breastfeeding compared to the other more popular interventions 
shown on Rx for Survival. 

A solid case can be made for the fact that breastfeeding needs more support than ever in that:
1) As globalization is increasing, market forces are making it more difficult for women to 
breastfeed for as long as their infants need them to do so ---- so more protections are needed 
for being able to either have breaks to feed the baby or pump
2) HIV has lead to widespread misuse of formula and the marketing of formula, especially in 
Africa.  HIV-free survival demands that we don't endanger babies whose mothers are not HIV 
positive by the spillover effect and that we put more money into research about how to protect the 
transition from exclusive breastfeeding which is increasingly being shown to have lower death 
rates to then make the transition at six months when infants do need other foods and become at 
risk for getting the virus - as well as milk banks and other alternatives
3) Exclusive breastfeeding rates are lagging behind immunization rates in many countries, despite 
the fact that exclusive breastfeeding is the most enduring immune dose that mothers can give to 
their infants.

On this one, I think there is a tiny window of opportunity to nudge this in the direction of more 
support for breastfeeding.

Best regards, Susan E. Burger, MHS, PhD, IBCLC

             ***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html