Wednesday, August 04, 2004

Seeking a formula to protect infants from AIDS
August 4, 2004
BY SANDRA GUY SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST
"Researchers are fighting two unfortunate realities in their efforts to stop AIDS in Africa. First, the ravages of disease there have become too routine to make the daily news headlines. About 70 percent of the world's 40 million people living with HIV/AIDS and 90 percent of the world's HIV/AIDS-infected children live in sub-Saharan Africa. Second, most medical products aimed at fighting AIDS, including vaccines, condoms and therapeutic drugs, must be given away to the poor in Africa. There's no profit potential from developing and making free products, and thus no interest from venture capitalists. Undaunted, researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago are pursuing a potential solution to the problem of AIDS being transmitted by infected mothers to their infants during breast-feeding. The problem is critical in sub-Saharan Africa because most women cannot afford infant formula, and even if they could, many infants fed formula have died because of contaminated water."
Drowning in expectations
Cheryl Rosenberg Neubert
The Orange County Register
Aug. 4, 2004 12:00 AM
"Of course I was going to breast-feed. There I would sit, ensconced in my light blue glider rocker, a halo of soft light surrounding me as my baby nursed at my breast. I’d smile beatifically at him, satisfied in my womanly ability to provide the perfect nourishment for my beautiful boy. Then my son Sawyer was born, and as fast as you can say flatnipplesnomilkpoorsuck, my idyllic image was shattered like the wail of a hungry infant breaks a quiet night. The most natural thing in the world seemed completely impossible. I could not feed my child. What was wrong with me?..."