A health care staff instruct a breast milk donor on donation process (Photo: VNA)Da Nang (VNA) – The
Breast Milk Bank under the Da Nang Hospital for Women and Children, the first
of its kind in Vietnam, received 140 litres of milk donated by 46 nursing mothers,
including 60 litres used for 136 infants with high risks of malnutrition or infections,
after two months of operation.
According to Nguyen Duc Vinh,
head of the Ministry of Health’s Department for Maternal and Child Health, the
bank has proved its initial efficiency by saving many children facing high risks
of fatality in Da Nang city as well as the central and Central Highlands
regions.
This is a good reason for the ministry
to consider expanding the model to other health care facilities nationwide, he
stated.
Vinh expressed hope that State
agencies and international organizations continue providing support in finance
and personnel training as well as health equipment for the duplication of human
milk banks, thus meeting people’s demand in the field.
Meanwhile, Mona Byrkit, Mekong
regional director of PATH, a US-based international nonprofit organization on
health care, pledged that the organization will continue assisting Vietnam in finance
and personnel training as well as special equipment for the bank in the hope of
providing safe and nutritious human milk to infants.
Doctor Tran Thi Hoang, Vice
Director of the Da Nang Hospital for Women and Children, noted that as many as
30 percent of 13,000-15,000 born at the hospital each year encounter
risks of malnutrition or infections.
Therefore, the breast milk bank
is designed to provide for the caring and treatment of about
3,000-4,000 infants each year, said Hoang who revealed that in order to supply
safe milk to the needy, both health staff and donors must strictly follow donation
procedures.
In the coming time, the hospital
will enhance communications to encourage nursing mothers to donate their milk,
thus benefiting infants in Da Nang as well as the central and Central Highlands
regions, she added.
Vietnam’s first
is sponsored by the Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies and Bill & Melinda
Gates Foundation, with technical support from a number of non-governmental organizations
that provide training courses to health care staff as well as assistance in equipment
and communications.-VNA
Source: VietnamPlus
