5 meals for the baby of an HIV patient in Namibia

From the thirst for life

Milk powder protects the youngest children in Namibia from being infected with HIV

Whenever Rosalie looks into the eyes of her five-year-old son, she feels guilty. The young mother from Namibia is HIV-positive, but when her little son was born she had no money to buy expensive milk substitute for him and was forced to breastfeed him. However, HIV-positive mothers can infect their children through breastfeeding. This is how Rosalie's son became infected with HIV. A nurse in the maternity ward in the only state hospital in Windhoek was confronted with this problem every day. Mothers asked her for milk powder to protect their babies. The nurse could not sit idly by and initially bought milk powder herself with her small salary. Later she was able to recruit donors and helpers and set up the Mount Sinai Centre, which supplies HIV-positive mothers with milk powder.

need

Milk powder as a breast milk substitute to protect HIV-negative babies of HIV-positive mothers from infection.

activity

The Mount Sinai Centre purchases powdered milk and distributes it to HIV-negative babies of HIV-positive mothers.

Measurable performance

Number of milk powder doses that HIV-positive mothers receive for their babies through donation.

Result

By administering milk powder, it is expected that approximately 200 babies will be protected from HIV infection each year.

Systemically relevant impact

Children in Namibia are given a better, sustainable future without HIV infection. A new and healthy generation is growing up in the country.

background

HIV has been the number one cause of death in Namibia since 1996. Officially, 14.3% of the population is infected, but the number of unreported cases is estimated at over 20%. The Namibian government has taken up the fight against the disease and is providing essential medication free of charge. This is an important building block, but the state healthcare system has critical gaps.

Breast milk is the best possible food for newborns and in poor countries it is often the only food. However, if mothers are infected with the AIDS virus, they can infect their child through breastfeeding. The risk that a healthy baby will become infected with HIV through breastfeeding is 7 to 22%. The only effective protection against such an infection is the administration of milk substitute, but this is very expensive in Namibia. Since over 50% of the population in Namibia lives below the poverty line, many women cannot afford the substitute.

The good deed

At the Mount Sinai Centre, 100 babies born to HIV-positive mothers are cared for and provided with powdered milk. Once a month, the mothers come to the health centre with their babies to collect their ration. On this occasion, all babies are examined to ensure that they are developing healthily.

Breast milk is the best possible food for newborns and in poor countries it is often the only food. However, if mothers are infected with the AIDS virus, they can infect their child through breastfeeding. The risk that a healthy baby will become infected with HIV through breastfeeding is 7 to 22%. The only effective protection against such an infection is the administration of milk substitute, but this is very expensive in Namibia. Since over 50% of the population in Namibia lives below the poverty line, many women cannot afford the substitute.

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