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Date: | Tue, 12 Dec 1995 08:37:34 CET |
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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
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