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US Milk to Africa
Our next shipment of 43,000 ounces (10,000 infant meals) of donor breast milk from the US is scheduled to ship from Monrovia, California to two cities in South Africa – Durban and Cape Town. The shipment will occur on May 20, 2008.
International Breast Milk Project provides safe, pasteurized donor breast milk for infants affected by HIV/AIDs in developing countries in developing countries.
We are the only milk bank in the United States that provides milk to infants affected by HIV/AIDs in developing countries in Africa.
Small milk banks in Africa exist but are not sufficient to feed the overwhelming number of infants affected by HIV/AIDs in developing countries. High rates of HIV/AIDS infection among the potential donor population create an additional challenge for local milk banks in Africa.
International Breast Milk Project serves as an extension of the milk banks in Africa, supplementing the milk that is being collected locally. We also raise funds to support health care initiatives in Africa, including local milk banking.
According to the Global Breast Milk Initiative:
- Worldwide in 2006, approximately four million infants died before reaching the age of four weeks.
- According to UNICEF, babies who are breastfed have a 6 times greater chance of survival during the first 2 months of life.
- Research has shown that substitution of animal’s milk, formula or water compromises an infant’s digestive and immune system.
- Delaying the breastfeeding process, by even one day, doubles the chances of the infant dying before one month.(www.gbmi.us)
 View
pictures of the 2007 milk shipment to Africa.
Closing the Gap
The strategy of International Breast Milk Project is to improve infant nutrition in Africa through a three-
pronged approach of:
- Providing donor breast milk from the US
- Funding local milk bank development in Africa
- Directly funding health care initiatives in Africa
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