There was an outcry and it was stated (by the Health Department) that without this kind of sponsorship the meetings were too costly - it was a money saving measure (of course, it was the mothers who were paying for it, from the profits of the baby formula they were buying). There was quite a bit of publicity at the time orchestrated by the LCs and the practice stopped for a while. It seems that Nestles has taken over from Wyeth!
It will be hard to convince the MCH to give up their fancy lunches for a good cause, but it might be worth trying..... media publicity might help, but the bigger outfits may not want to offend sponsors by covering this violation of the Code.
I remember a similar occasion when I arrived at a meeting of the SA Branch of RACOG with Marsden Wager and Murray Enkin, who were to give presentations to the assemblage of OBs. When we arrived we found that tables were set for a lavish dinner, sponsored by Wyeth. The SA Branch had told me that "they had no money" to put on meetings(!!!), so without any consultation they went to Wyeth. We almost walked out on the spot - you can imagine how Marsden and Murray reacted! However, we stayed, and protested by not eating, as it was about all we could do. It all seems so innocuous, yet it is insidious....
Good luck!
Andrea
At 08:07 AM 3/09/2004, you wrote:
Hi,
Last week I had rather an upsetting experience. I was invited to speak at a meeting of local Maternal and Child health nurses about the National Health and Medical Research Council guidelines on infant feeding. I did this in my capacity as a volunteer breastfeeding counsellor.
I reached the venue at the agreed time, my talk well prepared, overheads done (at considerable personal expense ) to find......no-one there. But the table was covered in Nestle sample bags,formula samples and empty kit kat wrappers. The nurses were out to lunch......paid for by Nestle. The first people arrived back 1/2 an hour later than I had been asked to attend. My 20 mnth old daughter was also with me, and while she was well-behaved, she had already been "good" for 1/2 an hour.
Is this common practice in Maternal and child health in Victoria/Australia. Does Maternal and child health have a code of ethics? Does this still go on in hospitals (I would have thought (hoped) not. Who would be the most appropriate person/group to complain to. I don't believe health professionals should compromise themselves in this way, and it is in complete contravention of the WHO code. Some of the nurses have phoned me personally since then to apologise. I think they could tell I was unimpressed
Warm Regards, Barb IBCLC
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