The vision of Stanpan Suraksha mobile application is to support lactating mothers through their breastfeeding journey with skilled counseling support and protecting them from commercial influence; BPNI is launching this mobile application with two key features:
i) To provide access to skilled counselors (authorized by BPNI) near them and able to speak local languages. Lactating mothers can connect and meet in person for practical support or video calls.
ii) To report how baby food companies promote their products (infant milk substitutes, infant foods or feeding bottles)within the scope of The Infant Milk Substitutes, Feeding Bottles, and Infant Foods (Regulation Of Production, Supply And Distribution) Act 1992 And Amendment Act 2003( IMS Act )is Indias biggest commitment in the interest of infants and young children.
Other features include:
iii)Success stories by the mothers
iv)Becoming a counselor with BPNI
v)Engagement features for advocating breastfeeding issues
Breastfeeding Promotion Network of India (BPNI) was founded on 3rd December 1991 at Wardha, Maharashtra.BPNI is a registered, independent, nonprofit, national organization; working towards protecting, promoting, and supporting breastfeeding and appropriate complementary feeding of infants & young children.BPNI acts on the targets of Innocenti Declarations, Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes, and the Global Strategy for Infant and Young Child Feeding (WHO 2002).
BPNIs core areas of work include policy advocacy to educate policymakers and managers, training of health workers, capacity building of State governments for implementing the policy, social mobilization during world BreastfeedingWeek (WBW) each year and monitoring compliance with the“Infant Milk Substitutes, Feeding Bottles and Infant Foods (Regulation of Production, Supply, and Distribution) Act 1992 and Amendment Act 2003 (IMSAct).
BPNI is notified in the Gazette of India as a child welfare NGO to initiate action under section 21(1) of the IMS Act for officially monitoring and implementing IMSAct since 1995
Over the years BPNI has played the role of a watchdog organization and exposed several big baby food brands on how they undermined the IMS Act.
foods, which includes advertising, gifts and samples, promotion of foods for babies under two years of age, use of health care system, pictures of mother or baby on labels, sponsorship, gifts to health care workers or their associations and donation or distribution of informational or educational material. IMS Act does not prohibit sale of baby foods and feeding bottles.
Excerpts from the statement of objects and reasons of the IMS Act illustrate the intent of the Parliament “…Inappropriate feeding practices lead to infant malnutrition, morbidity and mortality in our children. Promotion of infant milk substitutes and related products like feeding bottles and teats do constitute a health hazard…In the absence of strong interventions designed to protect, promote and support breastfeeding, this decline can assume dangerous proportions subjecting millions of infants to greater risks of infections, malnutrition and death.” The current scientific evidence also supports this view.