Dear Hajime,
Congratulations on persuading the Journal of the Japan Pediatric Society not to advertise milk formula for healthy children in the Journal. This is a great result, thanks to your advocacy.
One specific and one general question: I note that the Japan Pediatric Society also publishes the Wiley journal Paediatrics International. Has this journal taken the same decision not to advertise milk formula for healthy children?
More generally, I would be interested to know if there is any monitoring of the world's leading paediatric journals, to recognise those who have made the right decision, while targeting those who have not yet taken a stand or, worse, decided to continue to advertise milk formula for healthy children.
Use of formula is particularly dangerous in disadvantaged groups in low- and middle-income countries, and therefore perhaps it is especially important that paediatric journals that are widely read in those countries should be especially monitored.
Also what more can CHIFA do to raise awareness of this issue? We have a lot of experience in running deep-dive discussions on the HIFA and CHIFA forums. These C/HIFA Projects help to raise awareness of priority issues. They typically run for 3-12 months and we are able to implement such a project for as little as £2k. For further details including testimonials on current projects see here: www.hifa.org/projects
Best wishes, Neil
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org
