Giving Compass' Take:

• News Deeply covers both advocate and opposition sides of the controversial discussion of breastfeeding at the World Health Assembly examining the arguments about the non-binding breastfeeding resolution. 

• Why is breastfeeding a controversial topic? Especially in global contexts?

• Read about the global disparities in breastfeeding rates from country to country and the importance of breastfeeding for both the mother and baby. 

What should have been a non-controversial discussion on breastfeeding turned rancorous at the recent World Health Assembly (WHA) in Geneva.

Advocates at the event have accused the U.S. delegation of trying to stop a resolution on infant and young child feeding from being introduced.  The U.S. representatives later pushed for diluted text that removes references to regulating aggressive marketing of breast milk substitutes. The move underscores the influence the private sector still wields in this discussion, experts said, despite the consistent evidence that exclusive breastfeeding is far better for infants than commercially available breast milk substitutes.

The final resolution highlights the importance of breastfeeding and serves as a guide for countries on how to encourage the practice, but stops short of enforcing any action on private-sector interference, especially the monitoring and enforcement of a World Health Organization (WHO)-approved code against aggressive marketing of breast milk substitutes.

While the resolution is not binding for any countries, declarations such as these by the WHA are especially significant for low-income countries that do not have the resources to develop their own research. Thus, experts are worried about the impact the toned-down language might have on such efforts.

As it became clear at the Geneva conference that the resolution was in danger, nutrition experts, such as advocacy organization 1000 Days’ executive director Lucy Martinez Sullivan, started mobilizing forces on Twitter. “A battle over #breastfeeding has been brewing this week at WHO headquarters at the #WHA71,” she tweeted, adding, “It is now essential that countries #HoldtheLine to protect the #breastfeeding resolution at the World Health Assembly.”

Advocates see the episode as a wake-up call and said that it pointed to the need to improve the resources for the nutrition community in order to push back against industry influence.

Read the full article about breastfeeding by Amruta Byatnal at News Deeply