The SCALING Project aims to increase food and nutrition security in Lao villages.

The Sustainable Change Achieved through Linking Improved Nutrition and Governance (SCALING) project in Northern Laos aims to improve food and nutrition security in 420 villages across 14 districts in the provinces of Huaphanh, Luang Namtha, Luang Prabang, and Phongsaly, with a special focus on adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating women, and children under the age of five.

Ms. Ien is Phunoi and 21 years old. She lives with her husband's family of five people, including her two children, in Ngapoung village, Phongsaly district. Their major business is collecting and selling tea leaves. “I gave my first child rice and powdered milk when he was three months old because gathering tea leaves takes a long time. The facilitator from the EU-funded SCALING project, on the other hand, described what pregnant women and their newborns should do. I've now had a second child, who is nine months old. I'll continue to breastfeed him while also providing him with other foods. I notice he's doing well and is in fantastic health.”

Did you know that nursing (colostrum) within the first hour of a baby's life protects them from infections and saves their lives?

Breastfeeding is a natural preventative activity and protective barrier for both infants and mothers against many infectious and non-communicable diseases. Indeed, it lowers the incidence of diarrhoea, respiratory disorders, middle ear infections, leukemia, and asthma in children, as well as contributing to the immune system's strengthening through antibodies in breast milk. It also lowers the mother's chance of breast cancer.

Breastfeeding is beneficial to a child's long-term health and saves money for health-care providers and families. Breastfeeding promotes brain development and school attendance, and it's linked to greater adult earnings.

Breast milk substitutes are being marketed, posing a danger to this natural and important practice. Large manufacturing food firms' principal purpose is to advertise their goods, no matter what it takes. In other words, infant formula producers have a responsibility to increase sales of baby formula and persuade new moms of the nutritional benefits of their product over breastfeeding. Their profit-driven mission has negative health consequences due to deceptive and inaccurate advertising.

In December 2019, the Government of Laos adopted the International Code of Marketing Breast-milk Substitutes, which is known locally as the "Decree on Food Products and Feeding Equipment for Infants and Toddlers." This is a significant step forward in limiting the damage.

By forbidding unethical marketing actions aimed at promoting breast milk replacements, the order attempts to safeguard and promote breastfeeding. By enforcing international and national standards, the negative impacts of baby formula advertising on breastfeeding success could be restricted, limiting an increase in mothers' misconceptions about the benefits of using infant formula.

Despite the existence of several laws and international legislation protecting the value of breastfeeding, there is still a lack of implementation of these standards. As a result, widespread adoption and support for breastfeeding can considerably enhance mother and child health, lowering the burden of morbidity and mortality among these two demographic groups.

Over the last ten years, Laos has seen considerable improvements in the nutritional status of children under the age of five. Nonetheless, breastfeeding rates are still low; only 45 percent of infants under the age of six months are nursed exclusively (Lao Statistics Bureau & Ministry of Health).

The European Union's partnership with Laos is heavily focused on the issue of nutrition, with a particular focus on the 1,000-day period. EU-funded projects in Laos support the implementation of the National Nutrition Strategy (2016-2025) from the national to the village level, addressing nutrition through behavior change, health system strengthening, gender equality, water, sanitation and hygiene, nutrition-sensitive agriculture, and cross-ministry coordination.

Budget support is an important part of the European Union's foreign cooperation; it entails direct financial payments to national treasuries that are implementing sustainable development initiatives. In Laos, EU collaboration actively supports the State budget in order to achieve specified nutrition agenda targets up to 2022, including the national decree on "infant and young child product control," among other things (BMS decree).

The EU continues to assist the nutrition community in disseminating and monitoring the BMS Decree at various levels throughout the country in order to protect breastfeeding and promote excellent nutrition and well-being for all Lao people.