AFRICAN JOURNAL OF FOOD & NUTRITIONAL SCIENCES
(AJFNS)
online version ISSN 1681 - 9608
Volume 2 No. 2

It has been a long time since the last information letter. In the meantime, the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action, WABA, has been working hard in planning WABA Global Forum 2, an international event that will bring together the entire international breastfeeding "Community." Taking place in Arusha, Tanzania on 23-27 September 2002, it is organised in collaboration with the Commonwealth Regional Health Community Secretariat (CRHCS) and the Tanzanian Food and Nutrition Centre (TFNC) with support from UNICEF, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). The key Forum partners are International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN) o La Leche League International (LLLI) o International Lactation Consultants Association (ILCA). Registration before July 15 costs US$600 (this includes transport, coffee breaks, lunch and dinner). If you would like a copy of the registration materials by email or regular mail, contact secr@waba.po.my.

WABA, together with UNICEF, are planning a technical meeting on HIV and infant feeding, just before Global Forum 2, on September 20-21. Registration for this will be US$200. Let WABA know if you would like to receive the registration materials when they are ready in the near future.

WABA has also just held a meeting for Asia on GIMS, the Global Initiative for Mother Support. Contact WABA if you would like a report of the proceedings or would like to know more about GIMS.

Breastfeeding: Healthy Mothers and Healthy Babies is the topic of this year's World Breastfeeding Week. You can read about it on WABA's website http://www.waba.org.br/wbw2002.htm and contact WABA for the action folder, exhibit kit, etc.

Recent studies have further refined our knowledge on the association between breastfeeding in intelligence. Rao et al. (Effect of breastfeeding on cognitive development of infants born small for gestational age.Acta Paediatr. 2002;91(3):267-74.) conclude: "Duration of exclusive breastfeeding has a significant impact on cognitive development without compromising growth among children born SGA [small-for-gestational age]." Similarly, Mortensen et al. (The Association Between Duration of Breastfeeding and Adult Intelligence. JAMA 2002;287:2365-71) found slightly higher intelligence scores in adults who had been breast-fed longer, with many confounders controlled for.

Finally, the International Confederation of Midwives has issued the press release pasted in below regarding their stance on HIV and breastfeeding.


Coordinator, WABA Research Task Force Email: ted.greiner@chello.se

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