Premature low birth weight infants borne to mothers who can not produce own milk or buy formula milk in Tanzania are at high risk of dying of hunger due to lack of human Milk.
World Health organization (WHO) recommends that, new borne babies should be given breast milk within three hours of delivery in order to provide them with immunoglobulin,stimulate their bowel and create a strong mother -Child bond.
Many infants in Tanzania die of hunger due to lack of mothers milk which is mainly caused by sick mother soon after delivery, failure of delivered mother to produce own milk due to lack of food or psychological stress and death of mother soon after delivery..
Formula milk to low birth weight premature infants are associated with medical complication such as diarrhea, bloating and neonatal sepsis simply because their stomach are too young to digest the formula milk.
Human Milk Bank in Tanzania aims at starting a human milk bank that will collect, screen, pastularise, re-screen, freeze and package safe human milk for distribution in the country. Premature low birth weight infants whose mothers are unable to produce own milk and buy formula milk will be given the packed human milk from the Bank free of charge.
Breastfeeding mothers will donate milk at the bank. Milk Donor mothers shall be screened for HIV, syphilis, Hepatitis B and C, TB before they are recruited as donor mother.
After donation, collected milk will be screened for the same infection then pastularised. After pastularization the milk will be cooled to appropriate temperature then re-screened for the above infections. After though screening, safe milk shall be packaged into packets and bottles and then kept in freezer.
Safe milk at the bank shall be distributed to regional referral Hospital from which they will be given to infants in need under a written medical prescription by a qualified medical personnel. All vulnerable infants will be given the milk free of charge.
Donor mothers shall form women groups which shall be supported financially to run cafeteria from which income to support the project shall be generated and feeding of some mothers lacking breast milk due to hunger shall be done.
In addition there shall be rural agricultural women groups which shall be financially supported to produce food crops and sell them at affordable price to the women groups running cafeteria in the city ( the milk donor mothers)
The two women group types shall constitute Milk Donors Network.
Comments