Sponsorship of health professional associations by manufacturers and distributors of commercial milk formula: case studies

Overview

The World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended that, in order to promote, protect and support breastfeeding, prevent obesity and noncommunicable diseases, promote healthy diets, and ensure that caregivers receive clear and accurate information on feeding, companies that market foods for infants and young children should not “sponsor meetings of health professionals and scientific meetings.” Likewise, health workers, health systems, health professional associations and nongovernmental organizations should not “allow such companies to sponsor meetings of health professionals and scientific meetings”. This brief describes how six Health Care Professional Associations (HCPA), in different countries and years, carried out a process that led to an end of their collaboration with companies that market foods for infants and young children as far as sponsorship of HCPA events is concerned.