I was listening to an early morning health program on CRTV Buea when an official in charge of the breast milk bank at a state hospital came talking about conserving milk from humans.
Not only do we now have blood in banks, we equally have banked breast milk i.e. pasteurized milk and its nutritive components preserved for some children. Such children include those whose moms pass away at childbirth or who suffer from HIV/AIDS or those who don’t recover from cesarean sections early enough before their babies are famished. It is given out for free.
The process consists of collecting breast milk from donor moms who are actively breastfeeding, screening, pasteurizing and then banking it. If not consumed in three months it is discarded.
Interestingly there are still some problems with this method. Though it is free, some families can’t come to terms with the idea of feeding their babies with such milk. At the same time not many moms are willing to donate breast milk to a hospital.
Can we say this novelty is still to gain credibility and win many hearts?