WHO, UNICEF call for end to 'exploitative' marketing of baby formula in SA
The World Health Organization and UNICEF have launched a campaign called 'Babies before Bottom Lines'.
- 702 Weekend Breakfast with Gugs Mhlungu
- UNICEF
- United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF)
Baby drinking from a bottle, formula. Pixabay/Ben_Kerckx
702's Gugs Mhlungu talks to Dr Fundile Nyathi, CEO of Proactive Health Solutions.
'Becoming a mother transforms us... One half of your heart now lives on the outside... and deserves only the best. Big business knows this; they use it to lead and manipulate.'
That's the intro to a powerful video released by UN agency UNICEF as part of the 'Babies before Bottom Lines' campaign launched in partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO).
The campaign calls on manufacturers and distributors of commercial milk formula to end what the agencies call exploitative marketing.
It also urges regulators, investors and health professionals to counter this 'exploitative' marketing of the billion-dollar global formula milk industry.
UNICEF says their methods are deceptive and unethical.
"We support all parents and caregivers but we don't support corporate influence over what you feed your baby. Unregulated digital marketing uses algorithms that find you at your most vulnerable... Targeted midnight messages say bottle-fed babies sleep better; fake science?"
UNICEF
Proactive Health Solutions' Dr Fundile Nyathi refers to the 2022 study done by UNICEF and the WHO, which found that the formula feed industry was not adhering to the international code when it came to marketing in South Africa, amongst other countries.
The rise of social media and digital marketing created loopholes which the industry exploited, he says.
"It's about using the algorithms, looking at the data of pregnant women and new moms and sending information through the algorithms that is actually talking to the anxieties of those women."
Dr Fundile Nyathi, CEO - Proactive Health Solutions
"Think of a new mom who can't sleep at night because the child has colic for instance... or is returning to work and worried about whether her child will be getting proper nutrition with expressed milk or whether they need supplements."
Dr Fundile Nyathi, CEO - Proactive Health Solutions
The study found that industry players use a very calculated, strategic approach to exploit these anxieties, Dr Nyathi says.
"Actually in the first six months there is no need for supplementation - breast milk provides everything that the child needs, but these companies downplay this in favour of the use of formula feeds."
Dr Fundile Nyathi, CEO - Proactive Health Solutions
It was also found that at public hospitals - where this is not allowed, some baby clinics are working with the industry promoting the use of these products, Dr Nyathi adds.
For more detail, listen to the interview audio at the top of the article