HIV moms must not breastfeed
Dewi Santoso, Jakarta
HIV positive mothers have been advised not to breastfeed their babies to avoid them contracting the virus.
A HIVAIDS activist said on Friday that although the risk of being infected by the virus through breastfeeding was lower at about 30 percent than the risk from blood transfusions at more than 90 percent, the chances of possible infection remained open.
"We would therefore urge HIV positive mothers to feed their infants with powdered milk," said Toha Muhaimin, who is also the chairman of the non-governmental organization Pelita Ilmu Foundation (YPI).
A report issued earlier this week by the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) shows that the number of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) rose to 38 million in 2003 from 35 million in 2001.
Out of the 2003 figure, 2.5 million PLWHA, or approximately 6.5 percent, were children of under 15 years of age, it said.
Based on data from the Ministry of Health, during the 2001- 2002 period 14,283 mothers tested positive for HIV.
They gave birth to at least 13,957 babies, but only 1,730 of them were infected with HIV thanks to the Prevention Mother To Child HIV Transmission (PMTCT) program.
The program focuses on the comprehensive prevention steps needed by HIV positive women to prevent their babies from being infected.
Under the program, which has been introduced by the YPI, HIV positive mothers are advised to take three precautionary measures, with the first being the taking of antiretroviral (ARV) drugs on a regular basis.
The other two measures are to give birth by caesarean section (c-section), and to avoid breastfeeding.
"The ARV drugs will help the mothers to remain fit during their pregnancies so that the risk of infecting their infants with the virus will be low," Muhaimin said.
He said that c-section operations could help reduce the risk of newborn babies being infected with HIV by up to 8 percent, compared to a risk level of between 20 percent and 40 percent in the case of natural births.
"To further minimize the risk, don't breastfeed, but rather feed your children with powdered milk," he added.
The YPI started implementing its own three-year PMTCT program in 1998. The program involves providing voluntary testing and counseling (VCT) services to 558 pregnant women, 16 of whom had tested HIV positive.
Following the program, none of the 11 babies born to the mothers were infected with the virus.
In 2003, the foundation launched a two-year PMTCT program intended to provide VCT services to 2,000 women.
Funded by the Global Funds, the US$100,000 program has so far reached 599 expecting mothers, including 10 with HIV. The results are still not known as the 10 women have yet to give birth.