LLLI attends the 113th Session of the WHO Executive Board (January 2004)
Gisèle
Laviolle, LLL Leader, France and Heidi Kuonen-Goetz, LLL Leader,
Switzerland, LLL/WHO Representatives, attended the 113th Session
of the World Health Organization Executive Board, that took place
in Geneva Switzerland from January 19-24 2004. At the meeting,
they promoted breastfeeding and networked with country delegates.
Report
submitted by LLLI Representatives:
Report
La Leche League International Attendance
World Health Organization Executive Board
113th Session
19-24 January 2004
The WHO Executive
Board meetings take place twice a year. About 30 countries are members
of the Executive Board, represesenting the different regions of WHO.
The January session is very important as it prepares the World Health
Assembly that takes place in May.
Every other
year, the WHO secretariat writes a report on the implementation of
the Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes and the subject of
infant feeding is on the Agenda of the Executive Board and the WHA.
The participation of La Leche League is of particular importance on
these years.
In 2004, the
Infant and Young Child Nutrition topic was only presented as a matter
of information, which means that the countries are not expected to
vote a resolution about it.
Although LLLI
is linked with infant feeding, there were several other topics that
were of interest to us, especially one which raised a lot of discussions
on healthy lifestyles and the prevention of non-communicable diseases.
The discussion was particularly on nutrition with a very hot debate
on the responsibility of fat and sugar in people’s diet. The
LLLI concept of nutrition and the education that takes place in LLLI
support groups about healthy food can be highlighted.
In the report
on Infant and young child feeding, some countries attacked one paragraph.
In paragraph 23 of the report, the secretariat mentioned the research
that showed a link between infant formula and some long term diseases.
All these
discussions showed that these matters of health can be very controversial
and that the baby food industry was very active in trying to refute
the science that showed that their product is not as healthy as is
claimed.
Submitted
by Gisèle Laviolle and Heidi Kuonen-Goetz
LLLI /WHO Representatives
March 5, 2004
Page last edited Sun Oct 14 09:33:57 UTC 2007.
