Since 1981, WHO has regularly collected and disseminated
          information on the appropriate marketing and distribution of
          breast-milk substitutes. During that period only a few
          countries in Eastern Europe, e.g. the former Czechoslovakia
          and German Democratic Republic, and Hungary, were said to
          operate under the principle of health
          professional-prescribed use of infant formula. It appears
          that the sweep towards free-market principles has put an end
          to this practice. A still noteworthy case in this context is
          Papua New Guinea which, since 1977, while placing no
          restriction on the importation of infant formula, requires
          that baby feeding bottles, teats (nipples) and dummies
          (pacifiers) be sold at registered pharmacies and obtained
          only through medical prescription. Said prescription "cannot
          be given unless the authorized health worker is satisfied
          that it would be in the best interest of the baby or
          infant". The law was amended in 1984 to empower the Minister
          of Health to proscribe any feeding article considered to be
          hazardous to the health and well-being of infants.

          Jim Akre, Nutrition unit, WHO, Geneva