PHM-Exch> World Breastfeeding Week 2009 : Its We the People Who Can Bring Change: Lets ACT NOW!!

[Claudio Schuftan]

From: OneMillionCampaign mail at onemillioncampaign.org

 *World Breastfeeding Week 2009 *

* *

* Its We the People Who Can Bring Change:  Lets ACT NOW!!*



*World Breastfeeding Week starts on August 1, (1-7 August). The theme
is Breastfeeding,
A Vital Emergency Response: Are You Ready? *

* *

*You can find out more **download materials and find events at:
http://www.worldbreastfeedingweek.org/ *



UNICEF and WHO have made statements in support of the week, which is
coordinated by the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action.



UNICEF's statement includes: "Around 9 million children under five die every
year, largely from preventable causes... According to the Lancet, optimal
breastfeeding in the first two years of life, especially exclusive
breastfeeding for the first six months, can have the single largest impact
on child survival of all preventative interventions, with the potential to
prevent 12 to 15% of all under age 5 deaths in the developing world... This
year's World Breastfeeding Week provides an opportunity to sensitize
policy-makers, donors, implementing partners and the general public to the
benefits of breastfeeding, to its particular importance in emergency
situations, and to the need to protect and support mothers to breastfeeding
during emergencies."



You can find the full UNICEF and WHO statements via links at:

http://boycottnestle.blogspot.com/2009/07/wbw-2009.htm





It is a government requirement that tins have warnings that breastmilk is
best for babies, but Nestlé refuses to translate these into local language,
despite requests to do so, because of 'cost restraints'. It took a Baby Milk
Action campaign that led to Mark Thomas highlighting this irresponsible
marketing on UK television, to change Nestlé's minds, and further
campaigning to persuade Nestlé to show cup feeding, rather than bottle
feeding, in line with government policies. See:

http://www.babymilkaction.org/CEM/compfeb00.html



So campaigning works. Now we need to persuade Nestlé to remove the 'protect'
logo from labels . You can help by sending a message to Nestlé. You will
find the information you need to do so on our July Campaign for Ethical
Marketing action sheet, which is now available on our website at:
http://www.babymilkaction.org/cem/cemjuly09.html



If politicians fulfilled their responsibility to implement the baby food
marketing standards adopted by the World Health Assembly, then public
campaigns would not be necessary and there would be progress towards
stopping the millions of preventable under-5 deaths.



You can help put pressure on politicians by *signing the ONE MILLION
CAMPAIGN petition*. If you have already signed, visit the campaign website
to see what action you can take to encourage friends and colleagues to sign
up. See: http://www.onemillioncampaign.org <http://onemillioncampaign.org/>



*Action Alert*



1. Make an opportunity to call upon companies and your leaders to *END ALL
KINDS OF PROMTIONS *of Baby Foods by 2015.



2. If you would like to submit the *One Million Campaign Petition* to your
Head of the State, please use the opportunity to do so.



At this link http://www.onemillioncampaign.org/press-release1.aspx<http://onemillioncampaign.org/press-release1.aspx>
 you can find the Petition letter, and petition submitted to the President
of the World Health Assembly in May 2009.



Another link http://www.onemillioncampaign.org/doc/draft-letter.doc<http://onemillioncampaign.org/doc/draft-letter.doc>
  provides a draft for you to use to write to your Head of State.
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