Shared principles of ethics for infant and young child nutrition in the developing world.

Abstract

Background: The defining event in the area of infant feeding is the aggressive marketing of infant formula in the

developing world by transnational companies in the 1970s. This practice shattered the trust of the global health

community in the private sector, culminated in a global boycott of Nestle products and has extended to distrust of all

commercial efforts to improve infant and young child nutrition. The lack of trust is a key barrier along the critical path

to optimal infant and young child nutrition in the developing world.

Discussion: To begin to bridge this gap in trust, we developed a set of shared principles based on the following ideals:

Integrity; Solidarity; Justice; Equality; Partnership, cooperation, coordination, and communication; Responsible Activity; Sustainability; Transparency; Private enterprise and scale-up; and Fair trading and consumer choice. We hope these principles can serve as a platform on which various parties in the in the infant and young child nutrition arena, can begin a process of authentic trust-building that will ultimately result in coordinated efforts amongst parties.

Summary: A set of shared principles of ethics for infant and young child nutrition in the developing world could

catalyze the scale-up of low cost, high quality, complementary foods for infants and young children, and eventually

contribute to the eradication of infant and child malnutrition in the developing world.