Roundtable baby food marketing Indonesia

On May 23rd, Inge Kauer, Executive Director of the Access to Nutrition Foundation (ATNF), met with the nutrition team of the Ministry of Health in Indonesia to present the results of ATNF’s study of marketing of Breast-milk substitutes (BMS) carried out in Indonesia between June and August 2015 and published in January 2016. ATNF commissioned US-based international research company Westat and local research partner Polling Centre to conduct the study. It assessed the extent to which BMS companies market their products in Indonesia in line with the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes published by WHO in 1981 (The Code) and relevant Indonesian regulations. ATNF, together with Polling Centre, also organised a workshop for NGOs on the outcomes of the research. Among others, representatives of UNICEF, Helen Keller International and GAIN attended.

ATNF’s presentation included a brief background on the specific legislation controlling BMS marketing in Indonesia, the study’s key findings, a comparison of the types of incidences of non-compliance found by the two parallel studies in Vietnam and Indonesia, and recommendations for BMS manufacturers. ATNF highlighted some areas of particular concern including companies´ cross-marketing of different BMS products, their point-of-sales promotions, their efforts to contact mothers through company representatives, and their practice of giving presents and samples to pregnant women and mothers.