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Date: | Sun, 16 Dec 2001 15:26:15 -0500 |
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Dear Lactnetters
Thought I would share with you that judgement was passed on Friday in a
court case between the Treatment Action Campaign and the South African
government. The court instructed the government to provide pregnant
mothers, who give birth in public hospitals, with the drug Nevirapine.The
government was further instructed to provide the babies of these mothers
with free formula for six months.
This came as a shock to those of us involved in breastfeeding advocacy in
South Africa. Slow, but promising, progress has been made in the acceptance
of exclusive breastfeeding as alternative to artificial feeding. Unless the
government will now make a strong stand for breastfeeding, this may have a
tremendous impact on the culture of breastfeeding in South Africa. The fact
that artificial feeding will be SAVING babies is now a very emotive
issue.The majority of these mothers live in appalling conditions with no
access to running water, proper sanitation, electricity etc. We can only
guess at what the ABM companies will do in this favorable environment and
what the spill-over effect will be on mothers who are healthy and able to
feed their babies with their own milk.
Loraine Hamm
Mother, Speech Therapist, LLLLeader, IBCLC
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