Voa development report - Should HIV-Infected Mothers Breastfeed?

Fill in the blank with one suitable word

AIDS

Henderson

Shep

Switzerland

The

These

This

VOA

WHO

Water

World

a

and

can

conditions

diarrhea

discovered

food

give

infections

nine

not

number

of

process

protection

reduce

safe

stopping

studies

the

their

to

were

will

years

is the VOA Special English Development Report.

The World Health Organization says that breastfeeding is best way to provide babies with the nutrients and against infection they need to be healthy. However, woman with HIV can spread the virus that causes to her child during pregnancy, delivery or through breastfeeding. WHO estimates up to twenty percent of babies born HIV-infected mothers become infected through breastfeeding.

However, breastfeeding puts children at risk of other problems. include poor nutrition and increased risk of other life-threatening . These risks were shown in Botswana last year. supplies made dirty by flooding led to high rates diarrhea and poor nutrition among babies fed liquid baby called formula. More than five hundred children died. The of deaths from diarrhea increased twenty times from earlier .

Investigators from the United States Centers for Disease Control the link between formula feeding and infant deaths from . They also found that babies who were not breastfed fifty times more likely to have diarrhea.

Peggy is a child health and development expert with the Health Organization. She spoke to us from Geneva, . Miz Henderson says the choice of feeding depends on individual situation of each woman with HIV.

The recommends replacement feeding instead of breastfeeding if several conditions be met. The replacement feeding must be acceptable, financially physically possible, continued over a period of time and for both the mother and baby. If these cannot be met, the WHO recommends that HIV-infected mothers their babies only breast milk for the first months life.

Miz Henderson says there are several promising on use of anti-retroviral medicines by HIV-infected mothers and children. But she says the safety of the is not clear. She says she hopes the WHO examine ongoing research of the medicines in two thousand . New public health recommendations could be announced then. But for now, Miz Henderson says the WHO does recommend that HIV-infected mothers use anti-retroviral drugs only to transmission of the virus through breastfeeding.

And that's the Special English Development Report, written by Jill Moss. Im ONeal'.

SCORE: