Commentary

Design, content and financing of an essential national package of health services. A minimum package of public health and clinical interventions, which are highly cost-effective and deal with major sources of disease burden, could be provided in low-income countries for about US$ 12 per person per year, and in middle-income countries for about $22. Properly […]

What could infant and young child nutrition learn from sweatshops? BACKGROUND: Adequate infant and young child nutrition demands high rates of breastfeeding and good access to nutrient rich complementary foods, requiring public sector action to promote breastfeeding and home based complementary feeding, and private sector action to refrain from undermining breastfeeding and to provide affordable, nutrient […]

Scaling up breastfeeding programmes in a complex adaptive world. The 2016 Breastfeeding Lancet Series continues to provide unequivocal evidence regarding the numerous benefits that optimal breastfeeding practices offer to children and women worldwide and the major savings that improving these practices can have as a result of their major public health benefits. Unfortunately, this knowledge […]

DEWORMING DELUSIONS? MASS DRUG ADMINISTRATION IN EAST AFRICAN SCHOOLS. Recent debates about deworming school-aged children in East Africa have been described as the ‘Worm Wars’. The stakes are high. Deworming has become one of the top priorities in the fight against infectious diseases. Staff at the World Health Organization, the Gates Foundation and the World […]

Implementation of the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding Saves Lives The Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI), developed in 1991 by the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children’s Fund to improve maternity care practices and breastfeeding rates, has been implemented globally in more than 152 countries. The core tenets of the BFHI are the Ten […]

Promoting safe infant feeding practices – the importance of structural, social and contextual factors in Southern Africa. There has been significant progress towards the goal of eliminating vertical transmission of HIV by 2015. However, a question that remains is how we can most effectively prevent late postnatal transmission of HIV through infant feeding. Guidelines published […]

Intervention strategies for improving iron status of young children and adolescents in India. Despite advances in scientific knowledge regarding multiple etiology, treatment, and potential strategies for combating iron deficiency and deficiencies of other micronutrients, iron deficiency anemia, vitamin A deficiency, and iodine deficiency remain significant public health challenges for growing children and adolescents. The short-term […]

Role of public-private partnership in micronutrient food fortification. Iron, iodine, and vitamin A deficiencies prevent 30% of the world’s population from reaching full physical and mental potential. Fortification of commonly eaten foods with micronutrients offers a cost-effective solution that can reach large populations. Effective and sustainable fortification will be possible only if the public sector […]

Promoting wholesome infant-feeding practices in India. India’s infant nutrition policy is based on the following strategies: 1) promotion of exclusive breastfeeding for the 1st 6 months of life; 2) gradual introduction of supplements such as animal milk and food items from the family’s diet (cereals, dahl, and vegetables) after 6 months, while continuing to breastfeed; […]

Breastfeeding versus infant formula: the Kenyan case. An Infant Feeding Practices Study (IFPS) in 1982 in Kenya, which included a cross-sectional survey of a weighted sample of 980 low and middle income Nairobi mothers who had given birth in the previous 18 months, found that most women breastfeed their infants for long periods, but many […]