An Indonesian mother and her baby outside a North Jakarta health clinic. Photo: Bunga Sirait/Mercy Corps

You may have heard the news that American mothers are breastfeeding their kids at rates higher than ever before, according to data released last week by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.

The fact that 77 percent of U.S. infants born in 2005-06 were breastfed is good news for child health — studies link breastfeeding to a wealth of benefits, from lower infection rates to higher intelligence — as well as for families' pocketbooks. In the U.S., a year's worth of infant formula can cost well over $1,000. Overseas, the financial bite is even bigger in per-capita income terms.

If breastfeeding is cheaper and healthier, then why do six of every seven Indonesian mothers feed their babies formula?

One reason: Formula companies in Indonesia spend a lot of money convincing mothers their product is as good or better than breast milk, and they've successfully insinuated their product in healthcare settings, according to Mercy Corps.

Dr. Fransiska Mardiananingsih, Mercy Corps' Healthy Start program manager, says formula companies[']... "aggressive marketing has convinced many mothers and health providers that formula feeding is just as healthy for infants," she says, "but in fact it has significant negative effects on children's health."

Dr. Mardiananingsih says formula companies go as far as to deliver gift baskets to new mothers to encourage the continued use of their product.

Mercy Corps, Global Envision's parent, is helping build a more supportive environment for breastfeeding moms in Jakarta's poorest neighborhoods. They're also offering a way for you to help: $75 buys a "Breastfeeding Kit," a symbolic gift that supports the program and equals the cost of training a breastfeeding counselor. It was unveiled last week as a Mother's Day addition to the agency's regular Mercy Kit lineup.

Training midwives, health officials and support-group facilitators is one part of the program; marketing is another. Mercy Corps is working with local government leaders and holding rallies to spread the word about breastfeeding's benefits. They may not be able to match the formula companies' marketing muscle, but with both health and economic advantages on their side, they at least have an easier sell.

December's United Nations climate change conference in Bali, Indonesia could have ended in a logjam of indecision until Kevin Conrad, spokesperson for Papua New Guinea, took the floor challenging the United States to take the lead or get out of the way. In a recent interview, Conrad explains why the success of this agreement is vital to smaller countries like Papua New Guinea:

“I think collectively we as humanity have become more mature in this climate battle, and we understand collectively that we’ve got to turn off all the emissions sources in order to win,” he said. “The climate doesn’t know whether it came from a factory or from Papua New Guinea’s deforestation. We’ve really got to get all hands on deck and tackle all of the issues.”

Mr. Conrad said the potential breakdown in the session’s final hours was particularly vexing to him because New Guinea and other forested tropical countries were finally getting attention for a proposal of payments by rich countries for preserving tropical forests. Deforestation currently contributes about a fifth of carbon dioxide emissions worldwide.

He said the rich-poor divide in the talks, which crystallized in the final clash in Bali, is a distraction from the reality that all countries have agreed, by the end of 2009, to do something new: define a threshold for greenhouse gases beyond which the world will not go.

Mr. Conrad's willingness to stand up for his cause will hopefully have positive results in furthering global cooperation on vital climate change issues, but in the very least, his willingness to speak out has brought greater heed to his country’s situation.