VOA News examines South African policy promoting exclusive breastfeeding for mothers with HIV

VOA News examines the South African government's decision in September 2011 to stop providing a free six-month supply of infant formula to mothers with HIV and have "its health facilities ... encourage the women to exclusively breastfeed for at least the first six months of their babies' lives." Though some criticized Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi for implementing the policy, "doctors at a hospital in an isolated part of South Africa's Eastern Cape province praised the minister's action as brave and visionary and said it would ultimately result in many lives being saved," the news agency writes. The article profiles the experience of doctors at Zithulele Hospital in Oliver Tambo District, which has followed the exclusive breastfeeding policy since 2006 and where one of every four mothers is infected with HIV; outlines why exclusive breastfeeding is preferable to mixed feeding; and discusses the challenges to implementing the policy nationwide (Taylor, 6/19).