Effects Of The Law On The Marketing Of Infant Foods In Ghana

Abstract

Six years into the implementation of the Ghana Breastfeeding Promotion Regulations 2000 (LI 1667), this paper takes a look at how the implementation of the regulations has affected both the promotion of commercial infant foods and mothers feeding options in Ghana. The study reveals that the regulations have restricted promotion of designated products to health care facilities basically to the provision of technical informational materials to health workers and promotion through labeling of products. Direct advertisement of designated products to the general public was virtually non existent through out the study, though there was a general lack of awareness of the existence of the regulations on the part of the general public. The study further suggests that mothers feeding options have been influenced by both the existence of the regulation and the strong breast feeding advocacy together with the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative. Most mothers choose to breastfeed either exclusively or sometimes with water for the first three months of their babies life. The paper further reveals that mothers generally supplemented with other foods not only infant formula from the fourth month onwards because of employment and other social and economic reasons. These practices are quite different from the years before the Regulations. Enhanced enforcement of the Regulation, awareness creation and further research into impact of the regulations and other infant feeding practices could result in significant gains in compliance and appropriate infant feeding practices.