Photo by Mothering Touch / Flickr.
Australia needs to set tougher regulations on the marketing of infant formula in order to take a global leadership role to support and promote breastfeeding, according to ANU health economist Dr Julie Smith. Dr Smith, a Fellow at the Australian Centre for Economic Research on Health, is the co-author of a global report on the value of breastfeeding, launched in Australia at Parliament House by ANU in collaboration with the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN) and the Parliamentary Friends of Early Childhood. The IBFAN report, The Need to Invest in Babies, calls for governments and international organisations to invest in breastfeeding protection, promotion and support in order to prevent the deaths of millions of babies around the world from diarrhea and pneumonia, and to reduce population risk for diabetes, hypertension, cancer and cardiac diseases. "We know that breastfeeding is rapidly diminishing in some countries in our region as breast milk substitutes are heavily promoted to women. In addition, many working women have no maternity leave, and no option to breastfeed. The impact of that is an increase in maternal and child death, and increased long-term burden on health systems," said Dr Smith. "Ten years ago, The Lancet published research that found a million infants and young children die each year because they are deprived of the right milk.
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