Economics of Marketing Infant Milk Formula as “Breastmilk Substitutes”

Suboptimal breastfeeding results in 800,000 child deaths annually. There are multiple causes of suboptimal breastfeeding, including marketing of breast-milk substitutes. Literature review on the sales and marketing of breastmilk substitutes, especially focusing on low- and middle-income countries, showed that global sales of breast-milk substitutes reached US$40 billion in 2013.