Dr Joseph Kado, Head of Paedatrics, Colonial War Memorial Hospital, Fiji  and Dr Andrew Steer, Centre of International Health, University of Melbourne, co-presented on Improving hospital care for children in Fiji and the Pacific at the Pacifika Medical Association Conference 2011 which was held from 19-21 August in Nadi. 

Once again an infant formula scandal from China is spread across the news pages. But, as Dr Wendy Holmes from the Burnet Institute’s Centre for International Health points out, the major story is really the high rate of formula feeding of babies in China and in many other countries in the region.

Not only are these babies unnecessarily exposed to the risks of bacterial and chemical contaminants in formula and water, they also miss out on the benefits of breastfeeding.