DUSHANBE, August 7, Asia-Plus — A working group at the Ministry of Health has drafted a bill on protection of the breastfeeding and state control over turnover of baby foods in the country.
According to information from the Ministry of Health (MoH) the mentioned draft law has been submitted for consideration to the Majlisi Namoyandagon (Tajikistan’s lower chamber of parliament).
The necessity of drafting this bill has resulted from insufficiency of legal foundation of regulating import of baby foods into the country, and non-observance of conditions of keeping and realization baby foods in the republic,” Mr. Sherali Rahmatulloyev, the deputy head of the Dushanbe Healthcare Department also the breastfeeding support program coordinator and one of authors of this bill, said.
According to him, the bill is dedicated to regulate the marketing of breastmilk substitutes, promote the breastfeeding and implementation of the national policy on protection and strengthening of mother and child health in the republic.
Mr. Rahmatulloyev has noted that surveys conducted at medical facilities in Tajikistan during 1997-2004 showed that babies taking breastmilk substitutes are contracting intestinal infections more frequently than babies taking breast milk. “Besides, monitoring by the MoH has established that feeding of baby with breastmilk substitutes till a six-month age comes on average to 650-700 Somonis, which is a big problem under conditions of low living standards in the republic,” the Dushanbe health official noted.
