The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health invites journalists and reporters to an information sharing session to explain and announce a policy shift for HIV positive mothers towards exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months and continued breastfeeding with use of ARVs.
The number of children dying before the age of five due to diarrhoea, pneumonia and malnutrition is increasing. In 2008/09, 50 471 (an increase from the 2008/09 46 511) children under the age of five reported to public health facilities. More than half of the deaths of children under the age of five years are associated with malnutrition, primarily due to poor infant feeding practices and limited breastfeeding practices. Breastfeeding, and especially early and exclusive breastfeeding, is one of the most valuable interventions for improving child survival.
Breastfeeding is the best way to feed an infant. A woman infected with HIV, however, can transmit the virus to her child during pregnancy, labour or delivery, or through breastfeeding. Over the years, health practitioners have struggled to address the dilemma of balancing the risk of infants acquiring HIV through breastfeeding with the risk of infant death from causes other than HIV, in particular malnutrition and serious illnesses such as diarrhoea and pneumonia among non-breastfed infants. For these reasons, health workers have faced a real challenge in identifying and promoting the best feeding practice for infants in their care whose mothers are HIV-infected and in particular balancing this with the socio-cultural determinants of infant feeding choices.
A large body of scientific evidence and programmatic experiences on HIV and infant feeding has accumulated in recent years which show that giving antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) to either the HIV-infected mother or HIV-exposed infant can significantly reduce the risk of transmitting HIV through breastfeeding.
In view of this evidence, the World Health Organisation (WHO) released new Guidelines on HIV and Infant Feeding containing revised principles and recommendations for infant feeding in the context of HIV. At the same time, the KZN Department of Health has revised its guidelines on Infant and Young Child Feeding, based on the accumulated scientific evidence and the experiences gained from the PMTCT sites in the province over the years. The guidelines provide simple, coherent and feasible guidance to health care workers, and mothers, for promoting and supporting improved infant feeding by HIV-infected mothers. You are invited to an information sharing session to share and unveil these guidelines, clarify issues and respond to some questions.
The details are as follows;
Date: 2 December 2010 (Thursday)
Time: 08H45 – 10H15
Venue: Durban – Tropicana Hotel
