Patrick, a premature baby weighing a minuscule 1.2
kilos (2.65 pounds), was "saved" by a breast milk
bank in South Africa, where child mortality is high
despite being the continent's most developed
economy.
"It was a question of life and death because of
the fact he could not go on formula," said his
39-year-old mother Annerleigh Bartlett. "There
was no way. He was too little."
Bartlett, from Cape Town, wasn't producing her own
milk yet, and the formula can damage premature
babies' intestines.
So, for the first two weeks of his life, Patrick relied
for his survival on breast milk donated by
anonymous women.
The principle of milk banks is simple: mothers
donate milk, which is tested, pasteurised, then
delivered to babies in need.
"Every drop counts," said a poster at the
headquarters of the South African Breastmilk
Reserve (SABR), a network of milk banks which
supply 87 hospitals and feed over 2,800
children this year.
"Human milk banks should be promoted and
supported as an effective approach to reduce...
mortality for babies who cannot be breastfed,"
said South Africa's ministry of health in a
recent report.
"South Africa has a much higher nutrition
problem than countries at comparable income
levels."
South Africa's infant mortality rate was 32.8 deaths
per 1,000 births in 2013 -- far higher than countries
such as Egypt, Algeria or Indonesia.
Children who are exclusively breastfed are 14 times
more likely to survive in the first six months of life
than formula-fed children, according to the United
Nations Children's Fund, UNICEF.
But South Africa has very low breastfeeding rates at
just 7.4 percent, partly as a result of prevalent
poverty and effective marketing by baby formula
companies.
Soon after having their babies, many poor mothers
need to get working again.
"Many of these moms are not employed in the
formal sector. They don't get maternity
benefits," said Chantell Witten, researcher at the
North West University Center of Excellence for
Nutrition in South Africa.
"It means that moms are not with their baby,
so they start formula feed.
"These babies don't get the right formula
because moms can't afford to feed adequately
and appropriately."
There is also a pervasive belief in South Africa that
formula milk is better for the baby.
"A lot of poor people think that rich people
formula-feed. They aspire for the best for their
children," said Stasha Jordan, SABR's director,
describing some of the marketing for formula
as "aggressive".
Until 2011, formula was distributed for free to
prevent transmission of HIV from mother to child,
another factor leading towards a bias to using
formula over milk.
But experts say attitudes towards breast milk are
changing.
Baby formula advertisements have been banned in
magazines and billboards since 2012 and South
Africa now encourages HIV-positive mothers to
breastfeed as long as they are taking antiretrovirals.
Still, there is some way to go.
"First we were very uncomfortable, knowing that
it is a fluid from someone else," said Pradesh
Mewalala, whose twins Anya and Ariana were
born prematurely.
Mewalala eventually agreed to use the milk, a
decision that saved his daughters.
The milk undergoes strict microbiological screening
and donors must take AIDS and Hepatitis B tests.
Patrick is now a vibrant six-month-old baby.
Eventually, his mother was able to breastfeed.
It's now her turn to be a donor at the Milk Matters
bank in Cape Town.
"I needed to pay back the institution that
helped me and our child kind of survive," said
Bartlett.
"I managed to provide three litres of milk... to
assist with feeding 20 babies for a period of
24 hours."
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