Johannesburg - Formula milk has seemingly become a status symbol with HIV-positive new mothers, predominantly those in African communities.
Exclusive breast-feeding is increasingly being seen as passé even though it has been shown to lower the risk of mother-to-child HIV transmission significantly.
Instead new mothers view being given formula milk by their partners as a sign of wealth, according to Professor Louise Kuhn.
“Unfortunately, there’s lots of confusion in this field (exclusive breast-feeding). One feeling is that formula is a good thing… a thing for rich people… a thing of white people, but this is false,” said Kuhn.
The Columbia University academic hosted a public lecture entitled “HIV in populations where breast-feeding is essential for child survival: trials and tribulations” at the The KwaZulu-Natal Research Institute for Tuberculosis and HIV based at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, where she raised more of these concerns.
Exclusive breast-feeding is defined as a baby’s consumption of human milk with no supplementation of any type – no water, non-human milk, juice or any solids or semi-solids except for vitamins, minerals and medication.
“Breast-feeding is best, yet we see this kind of thinking across a wide range of communities, poor and wealthy,” said Kuhn.
She conducted a study in Lusaka, Zambia, in which the concentration of HIV in breast milk of about 900 HIV-infected breast-feeding women was measured. They then compared women who were breast-feeding exclusively to those who were breast-feeding but not exclusively.
The concentration of HIV in the breast milk was found to be lower if breast-feeding was exclusive than if not.
“Well, it really is a mysterious finding. Initially when it was found, it was really very surprising. The thought was that it should be the other way around. People thought the study was flawed, but several studies showed the same thing,” she said.
The research Kuhn was referring to was the groundbreaking study by professors Anna Coutsoudis and Hoosen Coovadia 15 years ago.
The researchers noticed for the first time that the risk of mother-to-child HIV transmission was significantly lower if breast-feeding was completely exclusive for the first four months of life.
Through her research in Zambia, Kuhn said she and her team of investigators were looking at why this was so.
And seemingly, a part of the answer lies in the amount of the virus in the milk.
Kuhn stated: “We found that if women breast-fed exclusively, there was a lower concentration of the virus in the milk and there were fewer breast problems.”
But exclusive breast-feeding was only part of the solution.
Kuhn said it was also important that women adhered to their antiretroviral regimen.
The study’s findings have been published in the American medical journal Science Translational Medicine.
Exclusive breast-feeding, however, is recommended only for the first six months of a baby’s life.
Kuhn said women would, thereafter, need to move into complementary food but still continue giving the child only breast milk.
vuyo.mkhize@inl.co.za
The Star