Hivsa Milk Bars

Location: 11 clinics spread throughout Johannesburg, South Africa

Milk powder as an alternative to breastfeeding

The Milk Bars project is a joint venture with HivSA (HIV South Africa). After the arrival of the medicine Nevirapine, which has drastically reduced HIV transmission from mother to child, an alternative had to be found for breastfeeding to prevent the infection of healthy babies. The solution was milk powder, which is available via the HivSA at what are called Milk Bars.

In addition to helping to set up these Milk Bars, Orange Babies also supports a project that is perfectly aligned to them: the PMTCT project (Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission). Mothers who participate in this receive a year’s free supply of milk powder. For the first half year, the milk powder is provided by the South African Government, and for the second half by Orange Babies. This is very important, because many mothers cannot afford the milk powder.

In this project, workshops are given to teach expectant mothers about preventing the transmission of HIV and bottle-feeding.

This project has been very successful since it was started in 2006. During the past year, more than 9,000 tins of milk powder have been provided, which have enabled 473 mothers not to need to give breastfeeding.