The continued sponsorship of healthcare professional associations (HCPAs) for conferences, education programmes and research by the commercial milk formula (CMF) industry has long been criticised by the world health organisation (WHO). Repeated resolutions from the World Health Assembly have become more precise in calling for an end to such sponsorship, which carries with it a conflict of interest for health professionals in relation to their primary duty of care to their patients.
Recently I have reported on a new initiative from WHO to work with associations which have ended such sponsorship, leading to the publication of a key paper<https://bmjpaedsopen.bmj.com/content/7/1/e001876> in the British Medical Journal Paediatric Open, and a call to action<https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(24)00242-3/fulltext#:~:text=Aggressive%20marketing%20of%20breastmilk%20substitutes,We%20declare%20no%20competing%20interests.> published in the Lancet earlier this year.
Now, three further papers have been publicised on the WHO website and these will be of great value to any HCPA which is considering ending CMF sponsorship.
The first of these is a series of case studies from six societies which have ended sponsorship.
https://iris.who.int/handle/10665/378977
These cover why the societies decided to end sponsorship, the process they went through, the benefits that were found and how the funding gap was covered.
The second paper provides a model policy for those societies to adopt if they are planning to end sponsorship.
https://iris.who.int/handle/10665/378985
The third paper offers recommendations on alternatives to sponsorship both through reducing the costs of meetings and finding alternative sources of funds.
https://iris.who.int/handle/10665/378267
Please read and make use of these papers with respect to your own HCPA, and please disseminate them as widely as possible so that next year becomes the year of ending such sponsorship which is unethical, and leads to conflict of interest - let's all do our best to Back Breasfeeding!
Tony Waterston
CHIFA profile: Tony Waterston is a retired consultant paediatrician who worked mainly in the community in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. He spent 6 years working in Zambia and Zimbabwe and directed the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health Diploma in Palestinian Child Health teaching programme in the occupied Palestinian territories. He was an Editor of the Journal of Tropical Pediatrics and is on the Executive Committee of the International Society for Social Pediatrics. His academic interests are child poverty, advocacy for child health and children's rights. He is currently the lead moderator of CHIFA (HIFA's sister forum on child health and rights). www.chifa.org He is also a member of the HIFA Steering Group.
www.hifa.org/people/steering-group
www.hifa.org/support/members/tony
Tony.Waterston AT newcastle.ac.uk