South African health professional associations urged to end commercial milk formula industry sponsorship

Journal of the Colleges of Medicine of South Africa

 
 
Field Value
 
Title South African health professional associations urged to end commercial milk formula industry sponsorship
 
Creator Pereira-Kotze, Catherine J. Lake, Lori Kroon, Max Saloojee, Haroon du Plessis, Lisanne Kubeka, Zandile Clow, Sheila Coetzee, Renier Yazbek, Mariatha Ntombela, Nomajoni Dlamini-Nqeketo, Sithembile Tshitaudzi, Gilbert Ngcobo, Silingene J. Murudi-Manganye, Nthuseni S. Fawcus, Sue Mbalati, Nzama Doherty, Tanya
 
Subject public health; infant and young child nutrition; ethics conflicts of interest; health professionals; professional associations; sponsorship; financial incentive; breastmilk substitutes; commercial milk formula; breastfeeding; infant and young child nutrition
Description Despite the wealth of evidence about the benefits of breastfeeding, the commercial milk formula (CMF) industry continues to grow and project future profits, fuelled by aggressive and pervasive marketing practices that include the targeting of health care professionals. When health professionals and their associations accept funding from the CMF industry, this creates a conflict of interest (COI). The World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) have therefore issued clear unequivocal guidance including through World Health Assembly resolutions that health care institutions and professional associations should refuse sponsorship from the CMF industry. We urge health professionals in South Africa to heed this call to protect their professional integrity and ensure that care and support for pregnant and breastfeeding women, children and families is free from commercial influence.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor South African Medical Research Council
Date 2025-04-04
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — Opinion piece
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/jcmsa.v3i1.150
 
Source Journal of the Colleges of Medicine of South Africa; Vol 3, No 1 (2025); 6 pages 2960-110X 3105-4331
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://jcmsa.org.za/index.php/jcmsa/article/view/150/505 https://jcmsa.org.za/index.php/jcmsa/article/view/150/506 https://jcmsa.org.za/index.php/jcmsa/article/view/150/507 https://jcmsa.org.za/index.php/jcmsa/article/view/150/508
 
Coverage South Africa 1981-2024 —
Rights Copyright (c) 2025 Catherine J. Pereira-Kotze, Lori Lake, Max Kroon, Haroon Saloojee, Lisanne du Plessis, Zandile Kubeka, Sheila Clow, Renier Coetzee, Mariatha Yazbek, Nomajoni Ntombela, Sithembile Dlamini-Nqeketo, Gilbert Tshitaudzi, Silingene J. Ngcobo, Nthuseni S. Murudi https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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