As if separating 2,000 children from their families wasn’t bad enough; the current administration tried to derail a UN program about breastfeeding that is estimated to save 820,000 infant lives! All for money.
- Over 820 000 children’s lives could be saved every year among children under 5 years, if all children 0–23 months were optimally breastfed. Breastfeeding improves IQ, school attendance, and is associated with higher income in adult life.
- Improving child development and reducing health costs through breastfeeding results in economic gains for individual families as well as at the national level. Quoted from World Health Organization Fact Sheet on Infant and Young Child Feeding; additional factual information on the benefits of breastfeeding further down this blog.
How could any UN member state oppose this? It’s just common sense backed by medical research and data. Yet at the 2018 World Health Assembly, the decision-making body of the World Health Organization (WHO), the United States delegation did just that, by itself. The Assembly was held on May 21st to 26th in Geneva, Switzerland, but the story is just coming out as various participants and observers talk about it. The initial resolution had been passed unanimously in 2012, but there were some minor additions.
It’s bad enough that the U.S. opposed such a no-cost solution to vast healthcare issues, especially in developing countries, but the Ecuadorean delegation that was set to introduce the resolution was bullied by the U.S. to drop it, using economic sanctions on trade. The Ambassador to Ecuador, Todd C. Chapman, said in a meeting with Ecuadorean officials that the U.S. might also withdraw military aid. This was reported by a person attending the meeting. They caved in, and Russia stepped up and introduced it, after several other Latin American and African countries passed on submitting the resolution for fear of Washington’s retaliation. In addition, some U.S. delegates suggested that the U.S. might lower its contribution to WHO. The resolution passed with one major change insisted on by the U.S., an item that included technical support for member states to act against “inappropriate promotion of foods for infants and young children.”
Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar led the U.S. delegation, close to 100 members, which included not only U.S. government administrators and staff, but members of various health organizations such as the American Cancer Society and the American Academy of Pediatrics, as well as industry representatives. So far, I haven’t had any luck in obtaining the full list of U.S. government delegates, but they were mainly from HHS.
According to a NY Times article on July 8, 2018, “The showdown over the issue was recounted by more than a dozen participants from several countries, many of whom requested anonymity because they feared retaliation from the United States.”
We’ve seen common sense and increasingly necessary environmental policy cut to shreds by this administration; now the focus is on destroying public health so infant formula corporate profits can be improved. Infant formula is big business, and it’s been stagnant over the past few years, so the industry’s intention is to increase it in underdeveloped and developing countries. One of the items the U.S. wanted to delete: “protect, promote and support breast-feeding.” Really??!! NY Times article on July 8, 2018 and other sources.
There are other battles where Washington supports big business over healthcare, particularly, but not only, for the poor in developing countries. From a NY Times article about the same WHA meeting, “the United States succeeded in removing statements supporting soda taxes from a document that advises countries grappling with soaring rates of obesity. The Americans also sought, unsuccessfully, to thwart a WHO effort aimed at helping poor countries obtain access to lifesaving medicines. Washington, supporting the pharmaceutical industry, has long resisted calls to modify patent laws as a way of increasing drug availability in the developing world, but health advocates say the Trump administration has ratcheted up its opposition to such efforts.”
The research on breastfeeding is conclusive and has been for years. Again from WHO, “Exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months has many benefits for the infant and mother. Chief among these is protection against gastrointestinal infections which is observed not only in developing but also industrialized countries. Early initiation of breastfeeding, within 1 hour of birth, protects the newborn from acquiring infections and reduces newborn mortality. The risk of mortality due to diarrhoea and other infections can increase in infants who are either partially breastfed or not breastfed at all.
Breast-milk is also an important source of energy and nutrients in children aged 6–23 months. It can provide half or more of a child’s energy needs between the ages of 6 and 12 months, and one third of energy needs between 12 and 24 months. Breast-milk is also a critical source of energy and nutrients during illness, and reduces mortality among children who are malnourished.
Children and adolescents who were breastfed as babies are less likely to be overweight or obese. Additionally, they perform better on intelligence tests and have higher school attendance. Breastfeeding is associated with higher income in adult life. Improving child development and reducing health costs results in economic gains for individual families as well as at the national level.” This WHO fact sheet references www.thelancet.com/series/breastfeeding
In the 1970s there was a major scandal involving Nestlé’s marketing of infant formula to poor women in Africa and Asia, resulting in a wide boycott of their products and an international change in how such marketing practices could be curbed. A link to this is provided below.
Trump has now said the story is false, but there are too many witnesses and too many clear trails to the threats against Ecuador for it to be untrue. This is NOT fake news; it’s another case of an ignorant, narcissistic bully thinking he is leading a country. Unfortunately, the country is mine.
“What happened was tantamount to blackmail, with the U.S. holding the world hostage and trying to overturn nearly 40 years of consensus on the best way to protect infant and young child health,” Patti Rundell, policy director, Baby Milk Action, a British advocacy group, and attendee at WHA.
Links
An excellent summary of the actions, issues, and impacts of the U.S. actions at WHA by Thom Forbes: www.mediapost.com/publications/article/321864/report-says-us-tried-to-water-down-whas-breast-.html
NY Times article: www.nytimes.com/2018/07/08/health/world-health-breastfeeding-ecuador-trump.html?emc=edit_nn_20180709&nl=morning-briefing&nlid=6646474520180709&te=1
WHA agenda item: http://apps.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/WHA71/A71_22-en.pdf see specifically sections 20 through 28.
Nestlé scandal and boycott: www.businessinsider.com/nestles-infant-formula-scandal-2012-6
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