PHA-Exch> KENYA: Breast is best, even for mothers with HIV

[Claudio Schuftan]

From: RKoppenleitner RKoppenleitner at t-online.de

KENYA: Breast is best, even for mothers with HIV

 The risk of an HIV-positive mother infecting her child through
breastfeeding can be significantly reduced by antiretroviral treatment
(ART), say health officials in Kenya.

"HIV-positive mothers on ART lower the risk of transmission through
breastfeeding from 20 [percent] to five percent," said Linda Beyer, an
official in charge of Nutrition and HIV/AIDS at the UN Children's Fund
(UNICEF).

In developing countries the nutritional and other health benefits of
breastfeeding over formula feeding have generally been thought to outweigh
the risks of HIV infection. Recent clinical trials have found that putting
nursing HIV-positive mothers on ART can suppress viral load and minimise the
chances of transmission.

"Breastfeeding for the first six months of a child's life reduces up to 13
percent of under-five deaths," Beyer said at the start of World
Breastfeeding Week on 1 August.

According to the World Health Organisation, every year 10 million children
younger than five die worldwide, often as a result of malnutrition.

Beyer said that promoting breastfeeding was vital to achieving the
Millennium Development Goal of a two-thirds reduction in childhood mortality
rates by 2015.

Terry Wefwafwa, an official in Kenya's ministry of health, said her
department was already providing ART to breastfeeding HIV-positive mothers
through its prevention of mother-to-child transmission [PMTCT] programme.
"They are available at all health facilities for the women at no cost," she
said.

 HIV-positive mothers should stop breastfeeding their babies after six
months and introduce other foods, Wefwafwa said. She also warned that there
was a risk of infection if other foods and liquids were mixed with breast
milk before the baby was six months old.

 The world breast week campaign will be used as a platform to sensitise the
public to the importance of breastfeeding.
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