Health professional associations and industry funding—reply from Savage

Abstract

The World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) applauds the letter from Costello and colleagues1Costello A Branca F Rollins N Stahlhofer M Grummer-Strawn L Health professional associations and industry funding.Lancet. 2017; 389: 597-598Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (14) Google Scholar criticising the tragic decision of the UK Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) to continue accepting money from the infant formula industry to support their activities. In our work to protect, promote, and support breastfeeding, WABA and its partners all over the world encounter promotional activities of this industry, which undermine mothers' ability to breastfeed, and mislead the health professionals who might support them. We struggle to educate health professionals about the importance of resisting industry's tempting offers and subtle misrepresentation of the facts, and about the unbiased skilled support that mothers need from them to breastfeed effectively. Is it surprising that the UK has one of the lowest breastfeeding rates in the world,2Victora CG Bahl R Barros AJD and The Lancet Breastfeeding Series GroupBreastfeeding in the 21st century: epidemiology, mechanisms, and lifelong effect.Lancet. 2016; 387: 475-490Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (3322) Google Scholar with many mothers giving up in despair after a few weeks, when paediatricians appear not to consider it important? The RCPCH should give an exemplary lead to the profession, and to fellow organisations in other countries, to stand up to the infant formula industry in accordance with the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes, and it should find other sources of financial support that are free from conflict of interest. I declare no competing interests. Health professional associations and industry fundingThe UK Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) announced in October, 2016, its decision to continue to accept funding from manufacturers of breast milk substitutes (BMS).1 This decision raises serious concerns about the college's impartiality and sets a harmful precedent for other health professional organisations. In order to protect the credibility and the authority of professional organisations that contribute to the formulation of public policy, they need to adopt codes of conduct and practices that protect their independence from vested interests. Full-Text PDF