Infant feeding

Infant feeding features

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  South Africa is moving towards an AIDS-free generation, and improving survival in children living with HIV

  Reductions in vertical HIV transmission to infants and improvement in paediatric survival attributable to the scale of and quality improvement of prevention of parent-to-child transmission (PPTCT) and antiretroviral...

  From:  HIV & AIDS treatment in practice

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  Happy families

  Sally Farthing is an HIV specialist midwife at West Middlesex Hospital in Isleworth, west London. She praises the measures – and the mothers – who together have sent...

  From:  HIV treatment update

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  Infant feeding policy debated at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections

  Discussion of how new 2007 evidence affects advice on infant feeding by mothers with HIV....

  From:  HIV & AIDS treatment in practice

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  Safer infant feeding update, part 2

  Debates over early weaning, community support for mothers with HIV and ways of improving the nutritional quality of alternatives to breastfeeding....

  From:  HIV & AIDS treatment in practice

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  Safer infant feeding update

  Review of 2006 evidence on the risks of replacement feeding in infants of HIV-positive mothers....

  From:  HIV & AIDS treatment in practice

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  Safer infant feeding

  Review of evidence about infant feeding choices and operational issues around promotion of exclusive breatsfeeding by mothers with HIV....

  From:  HIV & AIDS treatment in practice

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  Breastfeeding and HIV transmission

  Has the contribution of HIV transmission through breastfeeding been underestimated in the past by PMTCT programmes?...

  From:  HIV & AIDS treatment in practice

Infant feeding in your own words

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  Preventing mother-to-child transmission

  I found out about my HIV status when I was 16 weeks pregnant. After I had an HIV test, I had counselling with the midwife....

  From:In your own words

Infant feeding news from aidsmap

• Exclusive breastfeeding hampered by infant illnesses, follow up of mothers with HIV shows

  Only one third of women counselled to exclusively breast feed for six months in the Kesho Bora study were able to sustain the practice for at least three months, indicating the challenges of implementing infant feeding advice for prevention of ...

  07 December 2012 | Carole Leach-Lemens

• Lack of understanding of treatment benefits may discourage women with HIV from having children – and could increase the risk of vertical transmission

  Two papers presented at the eleventh International Congress on Drug Therapy in HIV Infection this week in Glasgow suggest that some women with HIV may not have up-to-date information about vertical transmission (HIV being passed on from mother ...

  16 November 2012 | Gus Cairns

• Late start for ART in pregnancy increases HIV transmission risk during breastfeeding period

  A high viral load at the time of starting treatment during pregnancy and a shorter time on antiretroviral therapy (ART) before delivery continued to place mothers at risk of passing on HIV during the breastfeeding period for ...

  27 September 2012 | Carole Leach-Lemens

• BCG vaccination causes immune activation of CD4 T-cells in infants

  BCG vaccination, routinely given at birth to protect from tuberculosis (TB), causes an immune-activation of CD4 T cells, the HIV target cells, according to a South African study presented at the Nineteenth International AIDS Conference in Washington DC. This immune ...

  31 July 2012 | Lesley Odendal

• Zimbabwe: what will it take to achieve virtual elimination of infant HIV infections?

  Efforts to achieve "virtual elimination" of new HIV infections in infants by 2015 could prove highly challenging, according to computer modelling of the situation in Zimbabwe, one of the most seriously HIV-affected countries in southern Africa.Using a ...

  11 January 2012 | Carole Leach-Lemens

• Nevirapine and cotrimoxazole prophylaxis safe in HIV-exposed, uninfected infants

  Use of nevirapine with cotrimoxazole prophylaxis in HIV-exposed uninfected infants (HIV-EU) until six months of age in Zimbabwe and Uganda was safe with no immediate or long-term adverse effects, researchers on behalf of the HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN) 046 protocol ...

  15 December 2011 | Carole Leach-Lemens

• Further evidence that 'breast is best' for children of mothers with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa

  Early weaning resulted in almost twice as many acute illnesses and hospitalisations among HIV-exposed uninfected infants when compared to infants who continued to be breastfed beyond six months of age, long-term follow-up of the PEPI-Malawi study of extended infant antiretroviral ...

  19 August 2011 | Carole Leach-Lemens

• Cotrimoxazole in HIV-exposed but uninfected infants may undermine benefits of breastfeeding; trial needed, say paediatricians

  Cotrimoxazole prophylaxis may not provide significant protection against bacterial infections in HIV-exposed but uninfected infants, and may even undermine the health benefits of breastfeeding, according to research from South Africa. Optimal use of cotrimoxazole prophylaxis (CTXP) in breastfed HIV-exposed negative infants in ...

  09 August 2011 | Carole Leach-Lemens

• Valaciclovir slows HIV disease progression in pregnant and breastfeeding women

  Valaciclovir used to suppress herpes simplex virus 2 (HSV-2) in HIV co-infected pregnant and post-partum women in Nairobi, Kenya, slowed HIV disease progression and reduced viral load in breast milk, according to researchers from the Universities of Washington, Nairobi and ...

  26 July 2011 | Carole Leach-Lemens

• Infant prophylaxis during breastfeeding reduces risk of HIV infection by 71%

  Extended use of nevirapine or zidovudine and nevirapine in infants can reduce the risks of HIV transmission through breastmilk by over 70%, Charles van der Horst reported in a late breaker session at the International AIDS Society conference (IAS 2011) ...

  25 July 2011 | Carole Leach-Lemens

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Infant feeding news selected from other sources

• Bottle-Feeding Urged for US Moms with HIV

  American women with HIV shouldn't breastfeed their babies, regardless of low levels of the virus and antiviral treatment, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) cautioned.

  28 January 2013 | MedPage Today

• KENYA: Exclusive breastfeeding on the rise

  Kenya has made significant strides in boosting exclusive breastfeeding, even passing a new law banning the promotion of infant formula. Nevertheless, challenges to safe infant feeding - a major part of prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission - remain.

  05 December 2012 | IRIN Plus News

• Breast-milk molecule raises risk of HIV transmission

  Although one type of sugar in breast milk from HIV-positive mothers can boost likelihood of transmission, many other sugars protect against disease.

  03 October 2012 | Nature

• South Africa: Government formula milk sold for profit

  When branch members from the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) noticed that the shops were selling formula milk they informed the TAC Khayelitsha district office. A team from the TAC office went around Khayelitsha and discovered 16 shops were selling formula milk.

  12 September 2012 | Ground Up

• DNA sequencing confirms HIV transmission through surrogate breastfeeding

  DNA sequencing has provided evidence of HIV-1 transmission from an infected woman breastfeeding her niece in South Africa, drawing attention to infant feeding practices and the need for HIV testing of all breastfeeding surrogates as well as mothers.

  23 August 2012 | Wellcome Trust

• A compound in breast milk may help to protect infants from HIV transmission

  An international team of researchers has found that certain bioactive components found in human milk, called human milk ologosaccharides (HMOs) appear to help reduce the risk of HIV transmission from an HIV infected mother to her breast-fed infant. A study found that mothers whose milk contained high levels of HMOs were less liekly to transmit HIV to the babies. The HMOs appear to work by promoting growth of protective bacteria in the babies' diegestive systems.

  16 August 2012 | EurekAlert

• VOA News Examines South African Policy Promoting Exclusive Breastfeeding For Mothers With HIV

  VOA News examines the South African government's decision in September 2011 to stop providing a free six-month supply of infant formula to mothers with HIV and have "its health facilities ... encourage the women to exclusively breastfeed for at least the first six months of their babies' lives."

  21 June 2012 | Kaiser Daily Global Health Policy Report

• 'Breast Best' Policy Challenged in South Africa

  In September last year, South Africa’s health minister Aaron Motsoaledi implemented a drastic and highly contentious measure. He announced that the government would no longer provide a free six-month supply of formula milk to HIV-infected mothers. Instead, its health facilities would encourage the women to exclusively breastfeed for at least the first six months of their babies’ lives.

  20 June 2012 | Voice of America

• Newly discovered breast milk antibodies help neutralize HIV

  Antibodies that help to stop the HIV virus have been found in breast milk. Researchers at Duke University Medical Center isolated the antibodies from immune cells called B cells in the breast milk of infected mothers in Malawi.

  23 May 2012 | EurekAlert (press release)

• Flash-heating breastmilk to inactivate HIV is feasible for women in resource-poor countries

  An international team led by UC Davis researchers has found that mothers in sub-Saharan Africa could successfully follow a protocol for flash-heating breastmilk to reduce transmission of human immunodeficiency virus -- the virus that causes AIDS -- to their infants.

  03 May 2012 | Eurekalert Medicine & Health

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