An engineer and industrial designer, who is also a breast-feeding mother, has contacted me about a simple manual breast pump, which she has designed and partially developed, and describes as "much more effective, and requires much less strength than most pumps. It is also easy to clean and to keep sterile, having few parts ... Being very simple and operating without electricity, I have reason to believe that the design would be particularly useful in developing countries ... where breast-feeding mothers often have to work. The design has received a lot of support from breastfeeding experts in hospitals and universities ... To date the work has been completely unfunded but there is still development work to be done, particularly to determine the most suitable material and small details of the final form which are dependent on this. I would need about 3 working months to complete this work, and I am now looking for funding for this final development". Any suggestions for this woman could be sent to me privately, and I would be pleased to pass them on. TIA Jim Akre, Nutrition unit, WHO, Geneva