PHM-Exch> The World Breastfeeding Trends Initiative (WBTi), Congratulates Sri Lanka on achieving first “Green” nation status supporting breastfeeding women

Tue Jan 14 07:33:54 PST 2020

From: Arun Gupta <arun.ibfan at gmail.com>

This is to keep you updated on the WBTi work and the global repository of
policy and programmes.  As we move in the next decade, I have something
very special to share with you. *Sri Lanka has the distinction of being the*
Nation among 97 WBT*i *countries to achieve a *Green **color- code f*or the
scores on policy and programmes. Sri Lanka now *ranks number ONE and scores
91 out of 100 in their 5**th WBTi assessment 2019. The links below provide
source and comparison with countries in South Asia. *
Please feel free to share this information with the concerned.

https://www.worldbreastfeedingtrends.org/uploads/resources/document/wbti-press-release-9-jan-2020.pdf

*Press Briefing: The World Breastfeeding Trends Initiative (WBTi),
Congratulates Sri Lanka on achieving first “Green” nation status supporting
breastfeeding women*

*Sri Lanka scores 91/100 on 10 parameters policy and programmes in support
of breastfeeding women, and leading to improved breastfeeding practices
drastically.*

*New Delhi, January 9, 2020:* The World Breastfeeding Trends Initiative (WBT
*i*) congratulates Sri Lanka having achieved the status of first ever
“Green” Nation in supporting breastfeeding women. This is based on its
performance on ten indicators of policies and programmes the WBT*i* uses to
color- code and rank countries. In an ascending order of performance
WBT*i *color
codes are Red, Yellow, Blue and Green.

According to WBT*i *Sri Lanka is number 1 among 97 countries
<https://www.worldbreastfeedingtrends.org/wbti-country-ranking.php> who
have so far reported.

“Sri Lanka who scored 91/100 earned a green color code, which implies best
level of performance. This is the result of persistent efforts since 2005
to pursue improvements. Sri Lanka has demonstrated high level commitment
towards health and nutrition of mothers and babies” says Dr. Arun Gupta the
global coordinator of *WBTi. *Not surprisingly, Sri Lanka ranks number 1 on
the health and survival sub-index
<https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/how-india-lets-down-its-women-on-health-and-jobs/articleshow/72880043.cms>
having
taken effective steps in this direction.

“In 2019, Sri Lanka scored Green code in 7 out of 10 indicators, 2 are in
blue and one in yellow. Maternity protection and implementing the
International Code of Marketing for Breastmilk Substitutes needs more
attention in our country, we want to get green there also” says Wimala
Ranatunga, the WBT*i* coordinator of Sri Lanka and President of the
Sarvodya Women’s Movement.

Experts at the Breastfeeding Promotion Network of India in Delhi developed
the World Breastfeeding Trends Initiative (WBT*i*)
<https://www.worldbreastfeedingtrends.org/> and launched it worldwide. So
far 120 countries have been involved in WBT*i* and 97 have completed
assessments and reported. As WBT*i* expects, many countries have done
repeated assessments 2-3 or 4 times since 2005. India and Sri Lanka have
done it 5th time in 15 years.

The WBT*i *assists countries to assess and analyse gaps, and then calls for
action to bridge the gaps. It has led to development of a data repository
of policy& programmes
<https://www.worldbreastfeedingtrends.org/wbti-country-report.php>.
Alongside, the WBT*i* portal provides scoring, ranking, color- coding of
the country performance on 10 indicators of policies and programmes that it
measures. The WBT*i* makes this information available to everyone. The WBT
*i* process includes re-assessment every 3-5 years as an integral part to
check the trends in country. It has been seen that the more countries do re
assessment the better are the improvements in policy and
programmes/services to women to remove the barriers they face while
breastfeeding. These barriers include lack of support by health systems,
lack of facilities and break times at work, and aggressive promotion of
baby foods by the companies. The WBT*i findings *raise awareness of gaps
and generate action to ask the governments and employers to bridge the gaps
where needed.

The WBT*i *tools generate color- coded simple graphics, which are easily
understandable by the policymakers to identify and prioritize areas for
investment. For example if an indicator is in ‘Red’ it needs greater
attention. Thus the WBT*i* comes in handy to strengthen a country’s policy
implementation and services.

Inadequate breastfeeding costs the global economy almost $1 billion each
day.
<https://www.aliveandthrive.org/new-cost-of-not-breastfeeding-tool-launched/>
This
loss is due to lost productivity and healthcare costs. In addition it saves
700,000 lives annually. Breastfeeding majorly benefits child health,
women’s health and prevents non -communicable diseases. This can only be
achieved through galvanizing national actions to protect, and support every
pregnant and lactating woman.

Globally only 41% of infants of 0-6 months are exclusively breastfed. The
World Health Assembly has set a target to reach 50% by 2025, every country
should contribute to it. According to WHO and UNICEF
<https://www.who.int/nutrition/publications/infantfeeding/global-bf-collective-investmentcase.pdf?ua=1>
every
pregnant and breastfeeding woman and the baby require an enabling
environment in order to begin breastfeeding within an hour of birth,
breastfeed exclusively for 6 months and continue breastfeeding along with
adequate foods till 2 years or beyond.

*For more information contact:*

WBT*i* Global Secretariat

BP-33, Pitampura,

Delhi 110034

Dr Arun Gupta

arun.ibfan at gmail.com

Nupur Bidla

nupurbidla at gmail.com

*Notes for Editor*

·      *WBTi Global Data Repository*

https://www.worldbreastfeedingtrends.org/wbti-countries.php

·      *Comparison of India with South Asian countries on the progress on
policy and programmes related to breastfeeding and infant and young child
feeding*

https://www.worldbreastfeedingtrends.org/uploads/resources/document/comparison-of-india-with-south-asian-countries.pdf

Dr. Arun Gupta MD FIAP
Central Coordinator, BPNI https://www.bpni.org/

MD, World Breastfeeding Trends Initiative(WBTi)
https://www.worldbreastfeedingtrends.org/

Regional Coordinator- IBFAN South Asia,
Advisor, IBFAN Global Council,

Convener
Alliance Against Conflict of Interest(AACI) http://www.aaci-india.org/
&
Nutrition Advocacy in Public Interest(NAPi)http://www.napiindia.in/

BP-33, Pitampura | Delhi- 110034.

Email id : arun.ibfan at gmail.com
Mobile: 9899676306
Tweet : @moveribfan
Skype: arungupta1696
------------------------------------------------------------------
Our Ethical Policy- As a policy BPNI does not accept funds of any kind from
the companies manufacturing baby foods, feeding bottles etc. and from
organization/industry having conflict of interest.

Regional Coordinator- IBFAN South Asia,
Advisor, IBFAN Global Council,

Convener
Alliance Against Conflict of Interest(AACI) http://www.aaci-india.org/
&
Nutrition Advocacy in Public Interest(NAPi)http://www.napiindia.in/

BP-33, Pitampura | Delhi- 110034.

Email id : arun.ibfan at gmail.com
Mobile: 9899676306
Tweet : @moveribfan
Skype: arungupta1696
------------------------------------------------------------------
Our Ethical Policy- As a policy BPNI does not accept funds of any kind from
the companies manufacturing baby foods, feeding bottles etc. and from
organization/industry having conflict of interest.
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