A framework for analyzing infant nutrition policy in Malaysia
Haaga, J.
Note, Rand Corporation, USA (N-2198): 32
1985
Document Number: 427380
Policy makers concerned with public health in the developing countries have devoted an increasing amount of attention in recent years to infant feeding as a determinant of children's health. Many policies have been put forward; those discussed in this paper include the protection and promotion of breast feeding and encouragement of sound supplementary feeding of breast fed infants. Infant nutrition policy is necessarily an indirect attempt to influence a private and complex area of behaviour and the potential for irrelevance and wasted effort is high. The scope and types of policies being considered are defined and the crucial ways in which policies directed at infant feeding differ from other health and nutrition programmes are discussed. Existing activities of the government and voluntary agencies in Malaysia that could affect child health through infant feeding are reviewed and the rationale for additional measures, categorized as education, regulation, and price policies, and their probable costs, effects and implementability are discussed.