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| World Home » Life Style » | Thu. Aug 28, 2008 |
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Breastfeeding :: Breastfeeding reduces HIV transmission from mother to child MIL/spiritindia.com, Mar 31, 2007. London, March 31, 2007 - A study by scientists at the Africa Centre for Health and Population Studies, South Africa, has shown that an exclusive breastfeeding can considerably reduce the risk of HIV transmission from mother to child under six months. The research, published in The Lancet, has implications for people in resource poor settings, such as in rural Africa. In the study, funded by the UK's Wellcome Trust, researchers at the Africa Centre, University of KwaZulu-Natal, found that there was a 4% risk of postnatal transmission to infants solely fed on breast milk between the age of 6 weeks and 6 months of age. Infants who received formula milk or animal milk in addition to breast milk were nearly twice as likely to be infected as infants who received breast milk only. More alarmingly, those given solids in addition to breast milk were almost eleven times more likely to acquire infection. "The question of whether or not to breastfeed is not a straightforward one," says Professor Hoosen Coovadia from the Africa Centre. "We know that breastfeeding carries with it a risk of transmitting HIV infection from mother to child, but breastfeeding remains a key intervention to reduce mortality. In many areas of Africa where poverty is endemic, replacement feed, such as formula milk or animal milk, is expensive and cannot act as a complete substitute. The key is to find ways of making breastfeeding safe." In the developed world, the risk of transmission of HIV from mother to child has been dramatically reduced from about 25% to less than 2% thanks to the use of antiretroviral therapies, exclusive formula feeding regimes and excellent healthcare systems, but these are not available in resource-poor areas.
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