PHA-Exchange> PHA Exchange WHO-WHA

[Ibfan Penang]

David Saunders
Claudio Schuftan
Others in PHA,

Dear all,

We are on the PHA Exchange and have been following discussion in general.
Now that you are preparing to go Geneva for the WHA, we do feel that we must
inform you that IBFAN, the International Baby Food Action Network will be
present at this WHA as it has been every year for the past 20 years!  We
were at the PHA in Bangladesh, we co-funded a dozen participants to go
there, pushed for the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk
Substitutes to be mentioned in the Charter (it got in, was removed, got in,
went out again - it was disappointing - we gave up in the end!)

Anyway, please do put IBFAN on your list and remember there are some old
hands at advocacy work within WHA and WHO.  We're now working at WHA
documents where changes are needed.  (We have a discussion paper on the
Global Strategy on Infant and Young Child Feeding which we can share but
which will not be of
interest to all).  But there are more general issues: like the WHO
definition of "civil society" which includes business as well as NGOs.
Public-Private Partnerships being pushed like mad, etc. We need to have a
common stand.

Everyone is busy, all have info overload so I will stop here but hope we can
get to a minimum common front with PHA while at WHA.  We also hope that PHA
will remember what Halfdan Mahler called the single most important
achievement of WHO during his terms in office:  the International Code of
Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes.

Cheers,
Annelies Allain,  IBFAN Penang


----- Original Message -----
From: Lynette Martin <lmartin at uwc.ac.za>
To: <pha-exchange at kabissa.org>; <sochara at vsnl.com>
Sent: Monday, March 25, 2002 8:34 PM
Subject: PHA-Exchange> PHA Exchange WHO-WHA