| Summary: | HN/AIDS in South Africa has grown to very serious proportions. An estimated number
of 5.3million South Africans are infected with HIV and the majority of these infections
are in the reproductive age group. Based on Annual Antenatal survey 2002,of the total
2.95 million were women aged 15-49, with an estimation of 91271 babies infected
through mother to child transmission. Breastfeeding is said to be an ideal food for growth
and development of a child. Given that HIV is transmissible through breastfeeding, the
paper aims at examining patterns and attitudes towards breastfeeding in the era of
HIV/AIDS.
A total of 400 respondents drawn from Mafikeng district were interviewed. The majority
were aged 20-39, never married, rural, unemployed with high school level of education.
Areas of interest were knowledge about HIV/AIDS, patterns of breastfeeding and
attitudes towards alternative methods of infant feeding for an HIV positive mother.
Previous reports gave clarity to HIV transmission rates at various stages of life. Evidence
has shown that rates of transmission are higher in early stages than late stages of life. Few weeks of life from 6-8 weeks may particularly be a period of high risk than ages above three months. Transmission might have occurred during pregnancy, labor or through breastfeeding, whereby data has shown that colostrums have high concentration of Human Immune Virus than mature milk.
The study shows that breastfeeding is still regarded as an important infant feeding
method that is ideal for child's growth and development but HIV infection is seen as a
disturbing factor to successful breastfeeding. Fifty four percent of respondents did not
breastfeed exclusively as promoted by UNICEF and WHO; mean duration for exclusive
breastfeeding is two months, support is given by SADHS 1998, mean duration for
complementary feeding is two months which gives an indication that more infants are at
higher risk of contracting the virus should their mothers test positive which in turn gives
rise to high infant /childhood morbidity and mortality rates.
There is a need to strengthen and expand programmes such as VCT and PMTCT in all
communities especially in rural setting where there is lack of pure water supply and
proper sanitation. Efforts to reduce the risk of transmission should therefore be centered
on promoting the understanding that mixed feeding or breastfeeding with supplementary
feeding carries the highest risk of HIV transmission compared to exclusive breastfeeding
or exclusive formula feeding. === Thesis (M.Soc.Sc. (Population Studies) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2004
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