Iwona,

Human rights are sometimes difficult to unpack into absolute rights and 
wrongs.  A mother has an inalienable human right to breastfeed her 
infant, and that infant has a human right to breastfeed as long as the 
mother desires it.

HIV+ mothers have a right to breastfeed.  They also have a right to 
support, proper information, and a space for them to make an informed 
choice.  I'm uncomfortable with the increasing thought that mothers in 
resource poor areas, wherein formula use is almost a death sentence, can 
be 'allowed' to breastfeed (as the alternative is so dangerous) yet 
mothers is resource rich areas should be prevented from doing so, as the 
formula risks are less.  It's not a comfortable place for me, and my 
moral and ethical sense, to be: mothers have a right to breastfeed.  End of.

Rather than looking at this purely as a medical issue, I'd suggest it 
may be fruitful to look upon it as a political one, and examine it from 
a human rights perspective.  I'd recommend looking into the work of 
George Kent in this specific area.

http://www.virusmyth.net/aids/index/gkent.htm

http://www.mothering.com/articles/new_baby/breastfeeding/breastfeed-hiv.html

Morgan Gallagher


Iwona Dlugoszewska wrote:
> Hi,
> My name is Iwona. I am a student within the nursing program at Community 
> College in Indiana. Below I am including a summary of the research that led to 
> my question.
>
> Breast-feeding by HIV positive mothers is contraindicated in U.S. Statistics 
> show that the risk of passing the virus through the breast feeding is 14 % 
> unless it is stopped after first six months.  The risk then is as little as 5 %.
>
>   

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