DUTKI MARY

Longer breastfeeding is necessary to protect children against fatal infectious diseases, especially those common in low resource settings.
However due to the risk of HIV transmission from an HIV infected mother to her infant during breastfeeding, early weaning had been recommended to reduce this HIV transmission.
A recent study conducted in Zambia has however found that halting breastfeeding early causes more harm than good for children who are not infected with HIV, and are born to HIV positive mothers.
In the Zambia study, published in the Clinical Infectious Diseases journal last month, the safety of stopping breast-feeding at different ages for mortality of uninfected children born to HIV-infected mothers was evaluated by recruiting 958 women and their infants into an early weaning trial.
These women and their infants were followed up from birth to two years after birth. One half of these women weaned their infants abruptly at four months, while the other half continued breastfeeding.
Analysis of the duration of breastfeeding and the deaths occurring among the infants showed a 9.4% death rate among uninfected children by 12 months of age and a 13.6% death rate by 24 months of age.
Weaning during the 4-5 months age period increased the risk of death 2.03 times, weaning at 6.11 months increased risk of death 3.54 times, and weaning at 12-18 months of age increased risk of death by 4.22 times.
The risks associated with weaning were stronger among infants born to mothers with higher CD4(+) cell counts (>350 cells/microL).Given these findings the study investigators conclude that. "Shortening the normal duration of breast-feeding for uninfected children born to HIV-infected mothers living in low-resource settings is associated with significant increases in mortality extending into the second year of life.
According to the study investigators, "Our results help support the recent change in the WHO guidelines for prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission". The new guidelines encourage use of ARVs through the duration of breastfeeding to prevent mother-to-child HIV.
The writer is a researcher