this was a Letter to Editor from
http://www.trumanindex.com/

Thought it would be interesting to share,
Karen Querna
Spokane,WA USA


Breast milk situation could be closely tied to HIV infections
Issue date: 12/7/06 Section: Letters


Forgive me if I am emotional, but we are facing a crisis and 
humanitarian disaster here in South Africa, and you would have to have a 
heart of steel not to become emotional.

Let me give you some figures so you have a better understanding of our 
situation: 40 percent of the pregnant women in our province are HIV 
positive. Forty percent of deaths in the 15 to 49 year olds were AIDS 
related in 2000. One million children are orphaned because of AIDS in 
2006. Two million children will be orphaned in South Africa by 2010. 
Many families are headed by children, some as young as 10 years old, 
because both parents have died.

Because of the infection rate among our pregnant women, the pool of 
women to draw donor mothers from is not large. Our breast-feeding rates 
are not high in this country. There has been very aggressive marketing 
of infant formula, and the spillover effect from HIV on breast feeding 
has taken its toll.

Many of the mothers who do breast feed stop at about four to five months 
when they return to work (a huge concern, and I am looking into this for 
my Master's). We believe that the promotion of milk banking goes hand in 
hand with the promotion and protection of breast feeding, something we 
are working hard on. But even if every breast-feeding mother in this 
country donated breast milk, we would never have enough to feed all the 
orphans who need it.

I read the article Lynn referred to about shipping milk to Africa and 
would like to comment on some issues - quotes from the article in brackets:

"Wet nursing, when a woman comes in and nurses other people's babies, is 
more culturally acceptable in African cultures, she said."

Wet nursing is a positively dangerous practice given the HIV infection 
rate and the fact that the majority of people do not know their HIV 
status (apart from the danger of passing on many other diseases that are 
rife in Africa).

"It smacks a little of racism," it said.

I can assure you that when babies are dying, no one is stopping to ask 
about whether the milk came from a white Western woman or a local 
African woman. Breastmilk is breastmilk, no matter what the source. We 
are dealing with a crisis of monumental proportions. There is no room 
for racism here.

"Carter said plenty of African women can donate their breast milk. She 
said she thinks that instead of spending money trying to keep breast 
milk frozen and ship it across an ocean, Americans should send money to 
support African milk banks."

New milk banks in Africa would be wonderful. The reality is, all the 
money in the world could not buy the amount of breastmilk that is needed 
for millions of orphaned babies.

What we are doing is helping a very few of these babies, the tip of the 
iceberg. They are the fortunate ones. If you could see these sick babies 
who arrive at our home, very ill. The one I am thinking of particularly 
had TB, was HIV positive, was covered in eczema and was skin and bone. 
It was like a miracle before our eyes once he has put on the breastmilk 
and treatment, the eczema cleared, his diarrhea stopped, and he started 
to gain weight. Today, he is a happy, healthy 4-year-old who is on HAART 
treatment and has been adopted by a loving family. He was on breast milk 
for 18 months, and it made a enormous difference to his life. And so I 
could go on. Our latest was a baby who was abandoned at 10 months. When 
she arrived she was well dressed and well cared for. Sadly, she is HIV 
positive.

My heart goes out to her mother. How hard it must have been to abandon a 
child she obviously loved and cared for, possibly because she was too 
ill to care for her anymore. Many thousands in this country who are HIV 
positive still do not have access to Anti Retroviral Treatment and are 
dying from AIDS as a result.

Jill Youse and others have cared enough to do something to help, the 
benefit of the raised awareness of breastfeeding and milk banking 
internationally and locally is substantial.

I understand the sentiment that to spend money shipping milk out to 
Africa is not a good use of resources. But then I look into the eyes of 
one of these precious babies who deserve the very best chance in life, 
and I find my heart rules my head, and I cannot say don't send us any 
more milk. The reality is, it will save lives.

Please, I beg of you, be gracious and walk a mile with us in our shoes 
before you cast the first stone.

As far as the International Breastmilk Project is concerned:

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can 
change the world; indeed it is the only thing that ever has." - Margaret 
Mead

Penny Reimers, RN.RM. B.Tech (Nursing) IBCLC Coordinator iThemba Lethu 
Breast Milk Bank 

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