RE: [pronut-hiv] The requirements and problems with providing free formula in Africa (4)

["Nynke Nutma" <hivnut@aahmw.org>]

As Mary Metru wrote, it is not only about the right for protection of HIV
infection, but also about the right to life. Offering formula feeds should
go hand in hand with increasing access to safe water, and the provision of
formula should be sustainable, otherwise the result will be disastrous in
terms of childhood morbidity and mortality. I think nobody would say a child in Africa does not have the same rights as children in other parts of the world, but in reality we will have to look at the best obtainable care, and continue to strive for better. 

Nynke Nutma
HIV/nutrition adviser
Action Against Hunger Malawi
hivnut@aahmw.org
09 960 499/ 01 758 992

-----Tumuzghi wrote:

I still wonder why on earth any one would recommend  a baby to bebreastfed
from an HIV mother. It is rediculous because some people in the west think
that the African child has no right for protection from transmission from
his mother. I would rather think the use of formulas or some wet  HIV
negative mothers.
Toumzghi

----- "Rachel Stern"wrote:

>
> The following applies to the US, not to the regions where
> breastfeeding is risking mother-to-infant transmission. Nevertheless, the
> life expectancy cut short, and the liftetime costs of treating HIV are
> things to remember, and in my mind, a good reason to find practical ways
to successfully use formula feeding when moms are HIV-positive. At least for
now, until there's a cure or an absolute means of prevention. Right now, HIV
is a lifetime infection, and these drugs are powerful and imperfect.
> -----
> HIV Life Expectancy
> Is Extended to 24 Years
> Associated Press
> November 10, 2006 5:37 p.m.
>
> ATLANTA -- An American diagnosed with the AIDS virus can expect to live
for about 24 years on average, and the cost of health care over those
two-plus decades is more than $600,000, new research indicates.
>
> Both life expectancy and the cost of care have risen from earlier
estimates, mainly because of expensive and effective drug therapies, said
Bruce Schackman, the study's lead author.
>
> The research found that the average annual cost of care is about
$25,200 --
> nearly 40% higher than a commonly cited estimate from the late 1990s. The
> new research also updates other studies from the 1990s, when life
expectancy for HIV-infected people was closer to 10 years. The study could
influence how much state and federal governments appropriate for HIV and
AIDS care and prevention in the future, some HIV policy experts said.
>
> "They're going to have to take into account medical advances that have
> extended people's lives," agreed Dr. Schackman, assistant professor of
> public health at New York's Weill Cornell Medical College.
>
> The study appears in the November edition of the peer-reviewed journal,
> Medical Care.
>
> A 1993 estimate of life expectancy for a symptomless person infected with
> HIV was less than seven years. But since the mid-1990s, about two dozen
> HIV-fighting antiretroviral drugs have come onto the market that have
> essentially turned HIV from a death sentence into a chronic disease.
>
>