Formula milk: why WHO has taken a hard stance on sponsorship

In 2019 BMJ took the decision to end all marketing of breastmilk substitutes (BMS) in its journals. The move was based on extensive evidence of the harms to health caused by aggressive promotion of BMS products, as well as a desire to support the World Health Organization’s code of practice governing the marketing of these substitutes.1But the code is about more than advertising in journals. It also recognises that health professionals and their associations are targets of marketing and are used as conduits by the BMS industry. The code’s aim to end financial relations between industry and the health profession has become more and more explicit in World Health Assembly resolutions over the years (see timeline). But sponsorship is still very common among colleges and associations—so much so that WHO and Unicef are developing new guidance for associations specifically focused on conferences,2 the most common form of BMS sponsorship.The issues…
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