Wednesday 07/January/2026 – 08:40 PM
Dr. Abla Al-Alfi, Deputy Minister of Health and Population for Population Affairs and Family Development, Supervisor of the National Population Council, and International Consultant for Breastfeeding and Child Nutrition, said that the announcement by the National Food Safety Authority to implement a precautionary recall of a limited number of batches of some infant formula products produced by Nestlé, as of Wednesday, January 7, 2026, in light of an official notification from Nestlé Egypt regarding a precautionary voluntary recall as a preventive measure, reflects the importance of continuous monitoring of infant food safety.
Abla Al-Alfi explains the importance of the Ministry’s support for breastfeeding in exchange for limiting artificial dairy
Al-Alfi added that this incident is not the first of its kind with regard to breast milk substitutes, some of which have been proven on more than one occasion to be linked to multiple health problems in infants, which prompted the Ministry of Health and Population to take a package of measures to support and encourage breastfeeding and reduce reliance on artificial milk, in order to preserve children’s health.
The Deputy Minister of Health explained that in support of the directives of the Deputy Prime Minister for Human Development and the Minister of Health and Population, the Ministry launched last January the Egyptian Code to control the marketing of breast-milk substitutes, as a regulatory framework aimed at protecting and supporting breastfeeding, by setting strict standards to restrict advertisements and free samples of breast-milk substitute products, and prohibiting direct contact of marketers with women, while directing health facilities to adhere to absolute breastfeeding during the first six months, in line with global standards for promoting the health of infants and mothers.
Al-Alfi confirmed that the Code aims to promote breastfeeding as an essential option for the first six months of a child’s life due to its proven health benefits, in addition to imposing strict controls on companies to restrict the promotion of breast milk substitute products, prohibiting the provision of free samples or gifts, and ensuring that there is no misleading promotion that may affect mothers’ decisions, while providing accurate and healthy information, adopting the Code as an ethical reference for health facilities in dealing with infant nutrition, and training medical teams in its application.
In the same context, the Deputy Minister of Health referred to the launch of the National Program for Mother and Child-Friendly Health Facilities, which aims to enhance a supportive environment for breastfeeding within all health facilities, transform hospitals and health centers into places that provide high-quality care during pregnancy, childbirth and beyond, encourage breastfeeding within newborn care units, and implement the first golden hour and skin-to-skin contact, which contributes to reducing newborn deaths.
She added that the Ministry worked in parallel with the Health Accreditation and Control Authority to issue the basics for accrediting mother- and child-friendly health facilities, and to integrate them as a basic standard within the standards for accrediting hospitals that provide mother and child services, in addition to training health personnel, and implementing broader initiatives to support the Egyptian family.
Al-Alfi pointed out that the 1000 Golden Days Presidential Initiative for Egyptian Family Development was localized within the programs of the Ministry of Health and Population, through which 12,450 counselors were trained to provide support and training to mothers on breastfeeding and complementary feeding mechanisms, starting from the period of pregnancy until the child reaches two years of age.
The Deputy Minister of Health confirmed that these measures resulted in tangible positive results, represented by an increase in absolute breastfeeding rates at the age of six months from 20% to 70%, according to the latest opinion poll that included 56,000 women, noting that the rates are scheduled to be announced nationwide as part of the results of the Egyptian Family Survey currently being conducted by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics.
She added that these indicators herald more progress in supporting and promoting breastfeeding, especially with the expansion of establishing centers of excellence for primary health care services and peri-pregnancy services centers, which the Ministry has pursued in areas with high composite population indicators within the urgent population plan, as a first step that was implemented during the past year.
