December 1, 1998
WE CARE Suffer the children WORLD AIDS DAY: Although advances have been made in the developed world in the treatment of Aids patients, the situation is grim for HIV-positive mothers and their babies in Thailand. Expensive drugs like Government cuts to free milk-powder programmes mean more babies will get infected with HIV through their mothers' breast milk. --Picture by Somkid Chaijitvanit AZT are an unimaginable luxury - they cannot even afford to buy milk to feed their babies. And government cuts to free milke-powder probrammes mean more babies will get infected from their mothers' breast milk Chompoo Trakullertsathien Whenever supplies of formula milk run out at her hospital, nurse Plernsuk Thongkhumman takes her own children's milk to give to newborn babies of HIV-positive mothers. "The lucky few will get what I take, but many others will return home disappointed," said Ms Plernsuk, a nurse at Phan District Hospital in the northern province of Chiang Rai. Ms Plernsuk is in charge of the Free Powdered Milk Project at the Phan Hospital. It is part of the Public Health Ministry's nationwide programme to prevent newborn babies of HIV-positive mothers from contracting the virus through breast-feeding. When the project started two years ago, the newborns got free milk until the age of two. Following the economic meltdown and public heath budget cuts however, the babies now get free milk for only one year. This means putting the babies at higher risk of getting infected from their mother's milk. "Most HIV-positive mothers are poor. They cannot afford to buy expensive milk formula. When the one-year period is over, they have no choice but to breast-feed their babies," she said. According to the nurse, about one-third of the babies born to HIV-positive women contract the virus from their mothers. The rest can remain healthy if they are fed with milk formula rather than breast milk. Due to budget constraints, she added, the hospital cannot even afford to give every baby born to a HIV-positive mother a blood test. "This means we really don't know about the Aids situation in the infants group." "We can only guess which babies are infected if they get sick often," she said. Most of the HIV-positive babies die prematurely because their poor mothers cannot afford nutritious food or proper medicine which could help prolong their lives. The Phan Hospital has 300 infants on its free powdered milk list. Due to supply shortages, however, not all of them receive it. Names of the mothers are picked randomly and it covers only those living in Phan district. "The babies not only need powdered milk, but also milk bottles. But we cannot afford to give them these basic items either," said Ms Plernsuk. For those HIV-positive mothers who insist on breast-feeding and refuse to come to the hospital to get free milk, there is nothing the hospital can do about it. Rather than being critical of these HIV-positive mothers, Nurse Plernsuk, is sympathetic. "They cannot come because they don't have money for transportation," she said. Apart from her busy routine at the hospital, Ms Plernsuk often works weekends visiting Aids patients to help them cope with depression. "Some can't accept their HIV-positive status. One patient drove her car off a cliff to commit suicide. My job is to give them encouragement, to remind them of the value of life and the significance of hope." Many patients, she said, hope for an Aids cure to be discovered. So does Ms Plernsuk. In the meantime, however, she believes prevention is the best strategy. As part of the hospital's Aids prevention campaign, couples who agree to have their blood tested before getting married will have their wedding ceremony hosted by the provincial authorities. The programme, she said, has been a success. Another preventive programme Ms Plernsuk works on is the promotion of condom use. "The ever-increasing Aids deaths in the community has made people realise the urgency of the problem," she said. "Before, they were not interested in taking our advice. Now they cannot afford to do that anymore. They know their lives are at risk." Info for donations: Name of organisation: Phan Hospital Address: Tambon Santisuk, Phan district, Chiang Rai province, 57120 Contact person: Plernsuk Thongkhumman Tel: (053) 721-345 ext 123 (from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.) and (053) 721-941 (after 4 p.m. and weekends) The hospital is in dire need of baby formula and bottles for infants of HIV-positive mothers. If you want to help, send your cheque payable to Post Publishing Public Company Limited (For Phan Hospital's Free Milk Programme). Send it to Mrs Kusuma Mintakhin, Editorial Manager, 136 Na Ranong Road, off Sunthorn Kosa, Klong Toey, Bangkok 10110. Her telephone number is 240-3700 ext 3224-5. Please also include your name and address with your cheque so we can send you a receipt. If you live in the North, you can also make donations at any district hospitals since most of them face similar shortages of babies' milk.		Classifieds Jobs Property Entertainment Investment Education Travel Sales Learn English Weekly Database Horizons NiteOwl Student Weekly Real Time Special We Care Street Art Back Issues Last Month Archive Company Servcies Subscriptions Advertising Annual Report
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