Thailand no longer wants ads for infant milk formula

THAILAND is moving to ban advertisements for infant milk formula in a bid hailed as a major step for a country which has one of the world’s lowest breastfeeding rates, but experts called for greater action to protect mothers’ rights to do so.

The ban will come into force next month and bans marketing promotion of infant formula in “both direct and indirect ways”, health official Puangpen Chanprasert said.

The UN’s children agency Unicef welcomed the move, which it said will also ban all forms of promotion of breastmilk substitutes, including the distribution of free samples at hospitals.

“For Thailand, this is a major step in protecting and promoting breastfeeding and ensuring that children get the best possible start in life,” Unicef said.

The World Health Organisation recommends that babies be breastfed exclusively for their first six months, then have a diet of breast milk and other food until they are two years old.

Thailand has one of the world’s lowest rates of exclusive breastfeeding at 12.3 percent, according to a 2016 global database by Unicef. The UN agency said Thai mothers faced “a number of obstacles” to breastfeeding, including aggressive marketing of baby formula and their return to work after three months of maternity leave. – Reuters