PESHAWAR, Aug 2: With the government set to observe the World Breast-feeding Week from Aug 5, it has failed to implement the Protection of Breast-feeding and Child Nutrition Ordinance 2002.

In November, President Gen Pervez Musharraf had promulgated the ordinance with a view to regulating the business of the formula milk manufacturers by preventing them from irrational and promotional marketing tactics.

It says no person shall promote infant formula or other products, including bottle-fed complementary food, as a replacement of the breast milk and no promotional messages regarding such products will be carried by media. However, the ordinance is yet to be implemented.

The implementation is being reportedly delayed because of the influence the multinational firms have on the authorities involved.

A doctor at one of the city’s hospitals said 35 per cent of the infant deaths in the country occurred due to diarrhoea and respiratory tract infections, which are most likely in those children who aren’t breast-fed or only partially breast-fed.