Healthy Skepticism Library item: 11296

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: Journal Article

McInnes RJ, Wright C, Haq S, McGranachan M.
Who's keeping the code? Compliance with the international code for the marketing of breast-milk substitutes in Greater Glasgow.
Public Health Nutr 2007 Jul; 10:(7):719-25
http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=1032640

Abstract:

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate compliance with the World Health Organization’s International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes in primary care, after the introduction of strict local infant feeding guidelines.

DESIGN: An audit form was sent to all community-based health professionals with an infant feeding remit. Walking tours were conducted in a random sample of community care facilities.

SETTING: Greater Glasgow Primary Care Division.

SUBJECTS: (1) Primary-care staff with an infant feeding remit; (2) community health-care facilities.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Contact with manufacturers of breast-milk substitutes (BMS) and BMS company personnel, free samples or incentives, and advertising of BMS.

RESULTS: Contact with company personnel was minimal, usually unsolicited and was mainly to provide product information. Free samples of BMS or feeding equipment were rare but childcare or parenting literature was more prevalent. Staff voiced concerns about the lack of relevant information for bottle-feeding mothers and the need to support the mother’s feeding choice. One-third of facilities were still displaying materials non-compliant with the Code, with the most common materials being weight conversion charts and posters.

CONCLUSIONS: Contact between personnel from primary care and BMS companies was minimal and generally unsolicited. The presence of materials from BMS companies in health-care premises was more common. Due to the high level of bottle-feeding in Glasgow, primary-care staff stated a need for information about BMS.

Keywords:
Infant feeding; Breast-milk substitutes; WHO Code; Policy; Primary care Publication Types: Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH Terms: Advertising Bottle Feeding Breast Feeding/epidemiology* Great Britain Health Facilities/ethics Health Facilities/standards* Health Personnel/ethics Health Personnel/psychology Humans Infant Infant Formula* Infant Nutrition Physiology Infant, Newborn Marketing/ethics Marketing/standards* World Health Organization