By Jane Merrick

Sunday, 11 May 2008

Efforts to encourage more women to breastfeed are being threatened by “aggressive” lobbying directed at the Government by the baby milk manufacturing industry, campaigners warned yesterday.

The powdered milk manufacturer Nestlé has forged formal links with the Department of Health and took a ministerial aide on an all-expenses-paid trip to South Africa, The Independent on Sunday has discovered.

To coincide with the start of National Breastfeeding Awareness Week today, the Secretary of State for Health, Alan Johnson, is under pressure to encourage mothers to give their babies breast milk beyond six months. Evidence suggests it helps curb obesity in the poorest families and prevents illness.

Children’s charities also want the Government to impose an outright ban on the promotion of powdered formula milk because they claim it encourages women to stop breastfeeding too early.

A ban on advertising infant formula for babies up to six months was introduced in the UK in January. Ministers are considering whether to extend the ban to follow-on formula milk products.

An investigation by the IoS has uncovered strong ties between Nestlé, the world’s largest baby milk manufacturer, and the Department of Health. Rosie Cooper, a parliamentary private secretary to the Health minister Ben Bradshaw, is undergoing a year-long Industry and Parliament Trust fellowship with Nestlé, and in February went for a week to South Africa as a guest of the group to oversee its corporate social responsibility activities.

Critics said it was “very worrying” that a member of the Government was working so closely with Nestlé, which is trying to break into the mainstream baby milk market in the UK.

Last night the Department of Health insisted it was taking steps to increase breastfeeding rates, especially among younger women in disadvantaged areas.

To mark National Breastfeeding Awareness Week, mothers will be sent text messages to persuade them not to give up.

But the NCT (National Childbirth Trust), Unicef, Save the Children and campaigning group Baby Milk Action, which has organised a boycott of Nestlé, are demanding the Government go further by introducing tough new laws cracking down on the multimillion-pound powdered milk market.

The Department of Health declined to say whether the Health Secretary or other ministers knew of Ms Cooper’s links to Nestlé. She has not recorded the South Africa trip on the Register of MPs’ Interests but has said she did not consider this necessary because her fellowship with Nestlé is registered with the Electoral Commission.

While she has not breached parliamentary rules, MPs said the decision raised questions about her judgement.

Ms Cooper’s trip to South Africa shows the extent to which Nestlé has forged links at the heart of government. She and three fellow Labour MPs had their flights, accommodation and other expenses paid for on the week-long visit, which took place from 7 to 14 February.

A week later, Ms Cooper, MP for West Lancashire, asked Gordon Brown during Prime Minister’s Questions about coffee and Fairtrade Fortnight, with which Nestlé is involved.

Campaigners claim Nestlé is still breaking the World Health Organisation code for marketing breastmilk substitutes by promoting its formula milk in the developing world.

The World Health Organisation banned the marketing of breast milk substitutes nearly 30 years ago. But it was only in January this year that the UK banned the promotion of formula milk to mothers of babies under six months.

There are rules restricting promotion of follow-on milk for older babies, including a ban on references to pregnancy and showing babies under six months in advertisements. Yet there is no outright ban on follow-on formula, and critics say that a failure to close the loophole would mean mothers were still being encouraged to give up breastfeeding.

Belinda Phipps, chief executive of the NCT, said: “Research shows that over-promotion of any sort of formula depresses the breastfeeding rate.

“Nestlé are trying to launch a brand in the UK but they have had difficulties because of their reputation across the world. Nestlé does do some good work in order to improve its public profile but it is viewed really badly around the world.

“Any parliamentarian should be extremely wary of accepting hospitality from such an unpopular company.”

The Liberal Democrat health spokesman, Norman Lamb, said: “It is a massive error of judgement to have this link with Nestlé, given her [Ms Cooper’s] position.

Mike Brady, campaigns and networking coordinator at Baby Milk Action, said: “Time and again we see Nestlé trying to ingratiate itself with health workers and policymakers through gifts, free trips, sponsorship and so-called partnerships.

“Surely the Government should not look to companies to fund and organise trips such as this. If there is a legitimate public interest in fact-finding in South Africa, it should be publicly funded.”

Senay Camgoz, Unicef UK spokesman, called on the Government to stop the infant formula industry exploiting loopholes in the legislation concerning the advertising of its products.

Ms Cooper defended her work with Nestlé last night. She said: “I was advised by the registrar of member’s interests that I did not have to declare the trip on the register, as visits undertaken as part of an IPT fellowship are directly excluded.

“I subsequently contacted and declared the trip with the Electoral Commission as she advised. I began my fellowship long before becoming a PPS at the Department of Health.

“I have never raised any issue concerning Nestlé, either in my capacity as a PPS or as a backbench MP.”

The Breastfeeding Manifesto Coalition, an umbrella organisation of 40 charities and royal colleges, including Save the Children, Unicef and the Royal College of Midwives, also calls for other steps by the Government to support breastfeeding.

They want the Government to bring England and Wales into line with Scotland, where women have a legal right to breastfeed in public. Women in England and Wales are allowed to do this, but if, for example, a restaurant manager objects, they have no rights enshrined in law.

Research by the NCT shows that nine out of 10 women stop breastfeeding before they want to.

The Department of Health is to launch a “Breast Buddy” scheme, fronted by Atomic Kitten singer Jenny Frost, under which women nominate a close friend or relative to provide emotional support while they are breastfeeding. Mothers from low-income backgrounds, and those aged 16 to 25, who are less likely to breastfeed, will be targeted by the initiative.

The Government wants breastfeeding rates to increase by two percentage points per year. In 2000, 71 per cent of mothers initially breastfed – but by 2005 the figure had risen to 77 per cent.

Official figures show a clear link between breastfeeding and poverty – except in London, where rates are high regardless of income. In Knowsley, Merseyside, one of the most disadvantaged areas in the country, just 28 per cent of mothers breastfeed. Hartlepool, Stoke-on-Trent, Sunderland, Middlesbrough and Hull are all in the bottom 10 primary care trust areas.

The top 10 areas are all in London. Lambeth – which does have pockets of extreme poverty – is top overall, with 93 per cent of mothers breastfeeding.

The Department of Health said the awareness campaign had nothing to do with the activities of Nestlé. A spokesman said: “We want to show that this is not just for middle-class white people – we want to give everyone encouragement for breastfeeding. It is healthy and beneficial for children and mothers. We want to dispel any myths or public negativity towards it and tackle inequalities.”

Advertisers spend £10 promoting formula for every £1 the NHS spends encouraging breastfeeding.

Nestlé could not be contacted for comment last night, but its website says: “Nestlé firmly believe that breastfeeding is the best way to feed a baby, and we are strongly committed to the promotion of breastfeeding throughout the world.

“However, some mothers, for a variety of reasons, do not breastfeed, and in these cases, infant formula is the only product recognised by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as a suitable alternative.”

Source: Independent.co.uk

LONDON (Reuters) - Women who breastfeed their babies longer are less likely to get rheumatoid arthritis, Swedish researchers said on Tuesday.

Mothers who breastfed for 13 months or more were half as likely to get the painful joint condition as women who never breastfed, said Mitra Pikwer and colleagues at the Malmo University Hospital in Sweden, who led the study.

“Although it is difficult to separate the effect of breast feeding from that of childbirth, our data suggest that rheumatoid arthritis is inversely associated with long-term breastfeeding, rather than with the number of children born,” they said.

The researchers said they wanted to see if a larger, community-based study would echo earlier studies on the links between breastfeeding or the use of oral contraceptives and the condition affecting about 20 million people worldwide.

Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease caused when the body confuses healthy tissues for foreign substances and attacks itself.

Some drugs to treat the condition seek to reduce inflammation directly while others tone down the immune system’s response, which can leave some patients vulnerable to infections and cancer.

The Swedish team compared 136 women with rheumatoid arthritis and 544 women of similar age without the disease. They also found that breastfeeding for between up to 12 months made women 25 percent less likely to get the joint condition.

The findings bolster previous research linking breastfeeding to a reduced risk of the disease. But, as with other studies, the Swedish teams said they did not know the exact reason why.

Breastfeeding is known to provide multiple benefits for the baby and studies have shown the practice may also protect mothers from breast and ovarian cancers.

The study published in the British Medical Journal’s Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases also suggested that oral contraceptives — thought to offer protection because they contain certain hormones — did not seem to make a difference.

Reporting by Michael Kahn - Reuters

Tue May 13, 2008 12:08am BST

1. Regional Coordinator

Grade: R4
Level: Chief Executive
Duration: Contract of 3 years; renewable once

2. Programme Manager

Grade: R3
Level: Departmental head
Duration: Contract of 3 years; renewable once

3. Programme Officer — Lusophone

Grade: R2
Level: Mid-level Management
Duration: Contract of 3 years; renewable

4. Resources Mobilisation Officer

Grade: R2
Level: Mid-level Management
Duration: Contract of 3 years; renewable once

5. Information Officer

Grade: L5/R1
Level: Mid-level Management
Duration: Contract of 3 years; renewable

6. Programme Manager

Grade: Consultant
Level: Temporary Position/Consultant
Duration: Fixed term

Vacancy Contracts: IBFAN Africa is an equal opportunity employer. The employment is on a contract of three years, renewable, based on output and availability of funds. Senior posts are limited to 6 years.

Regional Coordinator Applications: Application letter with CV for post of Regional Coordinator to be e-mailed to Armanda Gani at armandag@realnet.co.sz

All Other Applications: Application letter with CV to be sent to ibfanswd@realnet.co.sz

Closing Date for all Applications: 15 May 2008

Beautiful african mothers are in some of the 12 winning pictures from the WABA contest, for the 2008 World Breastfeeding Week.

Click here to see all of them.

Photo: JOSEPHINE NALUGO, Support for proper attachment is key (WABA)

The theme for this year’s WBW in deference to the 2008 Olympics is “Mother Support : Going for the Gold”.

The objectives are:

• To expand awareness of the need for and the value of providing support to a breastfeeding mother.
• To disseminate updated information about support for breastfeeding mothers.
• To create optimal conditions for the provision of mother support in all circles of support.

Materials have already been distributed from the IBFAN Africa Regional Office to national groups.

• Click here to download the 2008 WBW Action folder (English)
• Click here to download the 2008 WBW Calendar in English
• Click here to download the 2008 WBW Calendar in French

Please contact the office for further information or visit the WABA web-site www.worldbreastfeedingweek.org for updates.

The revised three-week masters-level certificate course provides an up-to-date scientific, technical and practical training. It covers all aspects of breastfeeding, from birth to two years and beyond, including policy and programme implementation.

More information can be found at: www.waba.org.my

The Conference takes place June 19 to 22, 2008 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Further information about the Congress can be found from relevant links on www.isid.org.

The Congress will provide an opportunity for about 3,000 participants from more than 100 countries to present and discuss recent and relevant information.

More information about date and venue will be communicated at a later date. Information will be posted on the website www.crhcs.or.tz.

IBFAN Africa therefore provided technical support and funding for a training-of-trainers of the National Code in conjunction with Mozambique’s Ministry of Health and IBFAN Mozambique Network.

Thirty participants attended the course which aimed to build capacity for implementation and monitoring of the National Code. Participants also undertook practical monitoring exercises and found several violations, mainly on labeling and point-of-sale advertising.

The training aimed to strengthen counselling skills on IYCF in the context of HIV and the 15 participants were selected from nine of the 21 islands that make up Guinea-Bissau. Participants were community workers including religious leaders.

The training was also used as an opportunity to conduct advocacy and awareness activities including inviting prominent policy/decision makers and community leaders to the opening and closing ceremonies. Radio programmes were also broadcast to raise awareness of issues surrounding IYCF, breastfeeding and HIV and the care of infant and young children.