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Implementation of the Code of Marketing of Breast-Milk Substitutes in Vietnam: Marketing Practices by the Industry and Perceptions of Caregivers and Health Workers
Background: The promotion of breastmilk substitutes (BMS) is an important barrier to successful breastfeeding. Objective: To examine the enactment and implementation of the Code of Marketing of Breast-Milk Substitutes (the Code) in Vietnam with a focus on marketing practices by the baby food industr...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2021
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8399411/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34445044 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu13082884 |
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author | Nguyen, Tuan T. Tran, Ha T. T. Cashin, Jennifer Nguyen, Van D. C. Weissman, Amy Nguyen, Trang T. Kelly, Bridget Mathisen, Roger |
author_facet | Nguyen, Tuan T. Tran, Ha T. T. Cashin, Jennifer Nguyen, Van D. C. Weissman, Amy Nguyen, Trang T. Kelly, Bridget Mathisen, Roger |
author_sort | Nguyen, Tuan T. |
collection | PubMed |
description | Background: The promotion of breastmilk substitutes (BMS) is an important barrier to successful breastfeeding. Objective: To examine the enactment and implementation of the Code of Marketing of Breast-Milk Substitutes (the Code) in Vietnam with a focus on marketing practices by the baby food industry and perceptions of caregivers, health workers, and policy makers. Methods: From May to July 2020, we conducted a mixed-method, cross-sectional study including a survey of 268 pregnant women and 726 mothers of infants aged 0–11 months and in-depth interviews with a subset of interviewed women (n = 39), policy makers, media executives, and health workers (n = 31). Results: In the previous 30 days, two mothers (out of 726) participating in the quantitative survey reported that health workers had recommended BMS, at private hospitals in both cases. In-depth interviews with health workers showed that hospitals have internal procedures to prevent the promotion of BMS by health workers. However, companies employed representatives to promote products not covered under the Code (e.g., commercial milk formula for pregnant women) at antenatal care visits and by gaining contact information from women and using this information to promote BMS outside the hospital, often on social media. In the 30 days preceding the survey, one-fifth of pregnant women were exposed to promotions of commercial milk formula for pregnant women and 7.1% to promotions of BMS. Among mothers of infants, 7.3% and 10.7% of respondents with infants aged 0–5 and 6–11 months, respectively, were exposed to some form of BMS promotion in the past 30 days. Around the time of birth, parents commonly brought BMS to maternity facilities (52.5%) or purchased it nearby (35.4%). Conclusions: Although Vietnam has a strong regulatory environment for the protection, promotion, and support of breastfeeding, there are implementation, monitoring, and enforcement gaps. Stronger enforcement of national policies to regulate the presence of BMS industry representatives in health facilities—both public and private—and the promotion of BMS products on digital platforms are needed. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-8399411 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2021 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-83994112021-08-29 Implementation of the Code of Marketing of Breast-Milk Substitutes in Vietnam: Marketing Practices by the Industry and Perceptions of Caregivers and Health Workers Nguyen, Tuan T. Tran, Ha T. T. Cashin, Jennifer Nguyen, Van D. C. Weissman, Amy Nguyen, Trang T. Kelly, Bridget Mathisen, Roger Nutrients Article Background: The promotion of breastmilk substitutes (BMS) is an important barrier to successful breastfeeding. Objective: To examine the enactment and implementation of the Code of Marketing of Breast-Milk Substitutes (the Code) in Vietnam with a focus on marketing practices by the baby food industry and perceptions of caregivers, health workers, and policy makers. Methods: From May to July 2020, we conducted a mixed-method, cross-sectional study including a survey of 268 pregnant women and 726 mothers of infants aged 0–11 months and in-depth interviews with a subset of interviewed women (n = 39), policy makers, media executives, and health workers (n = 31). Results: In the previous 30 days, two mothers (out of 726) participating in the quantitative survey reported that health workers had recommended BMS, at private hospitals in both cases. In-depth interviews with health workers showed that hospitals have internal procedures to prevent the promotion of BMS by health workers. However, companies employed representatives to promote products not covered under the Code (e.g., commercial milk formula for pregnant women) at antenatal care visits and by gaining contact information from women and using this information to promote BMS outside the hospital, often on social media. In the 30 days preceding the survey, one-fifth of pregnant women were exposed to promotions of commercial milk formula for pregnant women and 7.1% to promotions of BMS. Among mothers of infants, 7.3% and 10.7% of respondents with infants aged 0–5 and 6–11 months, respectively, were exposed to some form of BMS promotion in the past 30 days. Around the time of birth, parents commonly brought BMS to maternity facilities (52.5%) or purchased it nearby (35.4%). Conclusions: Although Vietnam has a strong regulatory environment for the protection, promotion, and support of breastfeeding, there are implementation, monitoring, and enforcement gaps. Stronger enforcement of national policies to regulate the presence of BMS industry representatives in health facilities—both public and private—and the promotion of BMS products on digital platforms are needed. MDPI 2021-08-22 /pmc/articles/PMC8399411/ /pubmed/34445044 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu13082884 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
spellingShingle | Article Nguyen, Tuan T. Tran, Ha T. T. Cashin, Jennifer Nguyen, Van D. C. Weissman, Amy Nguyen, Trang T. Kelly, Bridget Mathisen, Roger Implementation of the Code of Marketing of Breast-Milk Substitutes in Vietnam: Marketing Practices by the Industry and Perceptions of Caregivers and Health Workers |
title | Implementation of the Code of Marketing of Breast-Milk Substitutes in Vietnam: Marketing Practices by the Industry and Perceptions of Caregivers and Health Workers |
title_full | Implementation of the Code of Marketing of Breast-Milk Substitutes in Vietnam: Marketing Practices by the Industry and Perceptions of Caregivers and Health Workers |
title_fullStr | Implementation of the Code of Marketing of Breast-Milk Substitutes in Vietnam: Marketing Practices by the Industry and Perceptions of Caregivers and Health Workers |
title_full_unstemmed | Implementation of the Code of Marketing of Breast-Milk Substitutes in Vietnam: Marketing Practices by the Industry and Perceptions of Caregivers and Health Workers |
title_short | Implementation of the Code of Marketing of Breast-Milk Substitutes in Vietnam: Marketing Practices by the Industry and Perceptions of Caregivers and Health Workers |
title_sort | implementation of the code of marketing of breast-milk substitutes in vietnam: marketing practices by the industry and perceptions of caregivers and health workers |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8399411/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34445044 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu13082884 |
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