Health experts on Saturday said that aggressive marketing tactics by the formula producing companies and their attractive market policy were hampering child nutrition in the country.
Different international agencies also were now taking up public-private partnership schemes to eradicate malnutrition for the sake of their own business interest, they said while addressing an interaction meeting between media people and issue experts on nutrition.
Bangladesh Health Reporters’ Forum and Management and Resources Development Initiative organised the meeting at directorate general of health services.
‘Now the World Health Organisation is taking initiative to launch public-private partnerships to deal with malnutrition,’ said paediatric department senior consultant Khurshid Talukder, also research coordinator of Centre for Woman and Child Health.
He said malnutrition could be eradicated within five years by ensuring exclusive breast-feeding up to six months and home food in proper amount.
‘If we look at the statistics of severe malnutrition, we see it is 4 per cent between the richest and poorest quintiles of the population,’ he said.
‘What will the private organisations do and what will do the formula food?,’ he questioned.
Even when the government had banned advertisement for baby food, the companies targeted the pregnant women and advertised formula milk for them, he added.
Talukder said that all concerned should create awareness among the people of proper food for children.
The health experts said some non-governmental organisations, including ‘Shushila’ with the help of different international agencies are still distributing ready-to-use therapeutic food in the northern region of the country.
However, the government had taken initiative to import therapeutic milk powder F-75 and F-100 and multiple micronutrient milk powder MNP-5 to treat severely malnourished children, although an alternative home-based preparation developed in the country in 2007 was working well at different hospitals.
-With New Age input
