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UNICEF congratulates IBFAN on award

Commonly known as the "Alternative Nobel Prize", the award will be shared with two human rights workers: a professor campaigning against cancer by tackling pollution and a Chilean group fighting for the regulation of dam building. The presentation will take place at a ceremony in the Swedish Parliament in Stockholm on Wednesday, 9 December.

"IBFAN's untiring efforts in the promotion, protection and support of breastfeeding have been an important contribution to infant and young child health and survival," Ms. Bellamy said. "In addition, the organization's constant monitoring of company compliance with the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes indicates that much remains to be done to protect parents and health professionals from commercial pressures to feed infants artificially."

IBFAN is an international network of over 140 public interest groups in 70 developing and industrialized nations. Its members work closely with UNICEF and other UN agencies, particularly WHO and UNHCR, to achieve improved infant health and nutrition through the promotion of breastfeeding and the elimination of inappropriate marketing of infant foods, bottles and teats.

In announcing the award, the Right Livelihood Foundation called on governments everywhere to legislate according to the World Health Organization's International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes and challenged companies which continue to break and bend the Code to put the health and lives of babies before their profits.

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