A version of this was posted yesterday which the gremlins
appear to have got at - trying again with a bit more editing.....
I'm looking forward to further discussion about HIV and the issue of
free formula and hope that those of you who are interested have been
able to look at some of the Vancouver conference abstracts.
"What about clean water, fuel to sterilize water, a health system to
treat the illnesses due to formula feeding?" I second Jack's concerns,
as do many South Africans, including Dr Gray and her colleagues.
According to my interpretation, a blanket policy of "dishing out
formula" is not what they are advocating.
Please bear with me through the following:-
I live in a comfortable, middle-class suburb of
sophisticated, squalid, heart-warming, heart-wrenching Johannesburg -
with clean running water from my taps and excellent health services
(private). Within a kilometre - less than a mile for the unmetric! -
of my house, there are people living in the reeds along the spruit
(stream). We see the fires late at night and the washing hanging on
the electricity pylons. The water from the spruit is used for cooking
and cleaning and quite probably, also for ablutions. These people
could access some clean water from the public facilities in the nearby
park, possibly from neighbouring gardens. There is a municipal
"well-baby" clinic up the road - health care is free to pregnant and
lactating women and children under 6 years. Should HIV+ moms living
in these circumstances be able to get free supplies of formula,
bottles and teats, and sterilising fluid? This scenario is probably
an isolated example demonstrating the extremes that we have here.
Most of the women in this country who are HIV+ and those who are at
greatest risk of still becoming infected, are poor and are not able to
afford the amount of formula required to feed the baby adequately.
Many of these women, particularly in the urban areas, may well be able
to access a source of clean water.
We suspect that there may be a higher incidence of HIV+ women than the
current 20% (I think) of antenatal attendees at Baragwanath (just one
of many large hospitals in South Africa). I believe that the
percentage of admissions to the Baragwanath paediatric ward which are
babies with AIDS is around 50%. It is estimated that we have about
20,000 people moving into informal settlements of Gauteng every month
- these people come from poor, rural areas of S.A. as well as many
from Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Malawi and further north.
Yes, we need to work on the problems of job creation, provision of
clean water, housing, electrification, health services and health
education programmes, illegal immigrants, urban and rural development,
gender discrimination and screening and support systems for HIV+
people.
What options do we provide for moms who are HIV+ *now*?
Regards, Lynn.
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Lynn Moony
Johannesburg, South Africa
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