Shared principles of ethics for infant and young child nutrition in the developing world.
Loading...
Date
2010
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
BioMed Central.
Abstract
Background: The defining event in the area of infant feeding is the aggressive marketing of infant formula in the
developing world by transnational companies in the 1970s. This practice shattered the trust of the global health
community in the private sector, culminated in a global boycott of Nestle products and has extended to distrust of all
commercial efforts to improve infant and young child nutrition. The lack of trust is a key barrier along the critical path
to optimal infant and young child nutrition in the developing world.
Discussion: To begin to bridge this gap in trust, we developed a set of shared principles based on the following ideals:
Integrity; Solidarity; Justice; Equality; Partnership, cooperation, coordination, and communication; Responsible Activity; Sustainability; Transparency; Private enterprise and scale-up; and Fair trading and consumer choice. We hope these principles can serve as a platform on which various parties in the in the infant and young child nutrition arena, can begin a process of authentic trust-building that will ultimately result in coordinated efforts amongst parties.
Summary: A set of shared principles of ethics for infant and young child nutrition in the developing world could
catalyze the scale-up of low cost, high quality, complementary foods for infants and young children, and eventually
contribute to the eradication of infant and child malnutrition in the developing world.
Description
Keywords
Infant formulas--Developing countries., Infant formulas--Moral and ethical aspects--Developing countries., Infant formulas--Health aspects--Developing countries., Infant nutrition--Developing countries., Children--Nutrition--Developing countries.
Citation
Singh, J.A., Daar, A.S., Singer, P.A. 2010. Shared principles of ethics for infant and young child nutrition in the developing world. BMC Public Health 10 (321)