The healing power of breast milk: SABR gives vulnerable infants a fighting chance

35, 231. That’s how many premature babies the SA Breastmilk Reserve (SABR) has helped save between 2003 and March 2022.

In a country where water is scarce and electricity is unreliable, the non-profit organisation, headed by Staša Jordan, is fighting to keep vulnerable infants alive.

Bringing breast milk to babies, safely

The SABR, which turns 19 this year, feeds 3,864 babies with a declining number of donors. There are less than 900, compared to the 2020/21 period, where the supply of donated breast milk grew dramatically and the organisation was able to reach 5,729 very-low birthweight infants — primarily in public-sector tertiary hospitals.

The increase in breast milk donations were due to lockdown and donor mothers working from home. 

“Breastfeeding is a life-saving strategy that promotes food security and improves outcomes for infants globally,”  says Jordan. 

Breast milk is the perfect food for premature babies: it aids in preventing necrotising enterocolitis, strengthens the immune system, improves bonding and provides benefits for maternal health.

Because premature babies are at risk of developmental delays and poor school performance, the cognitive and developmental benefits of breastmilk are especially important. 

Both prematurity and malnutrition have devastating effects on the cognitive and physical development of children in their formative years. Before the onset of the Covid-19, SA found itself in a precarious situation with regard to food and nutrition, especially for young children. 

In the past, SA’s child stunting levels — an indication of chronic and long-term food insecurity — increased from 21% in 2008 to 27% in 2016. Now, with the devastation of Covid-19 and its lockdowns, child malnutrition rates are expected to increase. 

Stunting affects a child’s health, making them more susceptible to disease and infection, while also impairing their mental and physical development. This means children who suffer from stunting are less likely to achieve their full development and cognitive potential as adults. 

Even more detrimental, these children risk succumbing to severe acute malnutrition, which may cost them their lives. Children who do not grow well and start to lose weight are at higher risk of dying. Children who are severely wasted or stunted are 11.6 and 5.5 times more likely to die than children with a normal weight and height.

Stunting also has a marked affect on the country’s economic and developmental potential at large: evidence shows that countries with high stunting rates display lower GDP growth rates and have stunted economies.

“Failed breastfeeding and the consequences thereof are more evident in poor communities, where failing maternal health is the leading cause of mothers being unable to breastfeed.” 

Jordan is intimately acquainted with the pain of losing a child. In 2007, her son Maximillian died of asymptomatic pneumonia. 

“It was then that I realised the loss and devastation of having to bury your own child.

“The breast-milk bank project has supported the many parents fighting for their baby’s lives. Since losing my boy, I was more determined than ever to make a difference to the outcomes of children’s lives in SA.”

The SABR has supported the healthcare system and community of breastfeeding mothers in SA through programmes involving scientific research, advocacy and awareness.

The pioneering milk bank actively participates in government regulatory programmes and in the provision of safe, nutritious donated breast milk. This year the SABR is supporting 85 neonatal ICUs countrywide with 29 public-sector human-milk banks and one reserve bank.

Human-milk banking demands the highest standards 

“Human-milk banking demands the highest quality standards as it supports the critical, extremely low-birth-weight baby in the neonatal ICU in their first few days of life — when most have not made it,”  says Jordan.  

The Discovery Fund has been in partnership with the SABR since 2015. In 2020, the Discovery Foundation contributed R500,000 towards the NGO’s research projects so it could continue its life-saving work in maternal and child health. 

“The Discovery Fund has made child and maternal health one of its funding focus areas.

“Discovery is committed to supporting organisations and initiatives like the SABR that cover a mother and child’s health journey,” says Ruth Lewin, head of corporate sustainability at Discovery. 

“The SABR would not be here without the support of social-investment partners like Discovery,” says Jordan. 

Renovation inspires reinvestment in new equipment

Since 2015, the SABR has been upgrading the infrastructure in a number of public-hospital human-milk banks, inspiring provincial health departments to follow suit.

“The Discovery Fund has given the SABR an opportunity to renovate milk banks in the public sector, uplifting existing infrastructure with state-of-the-art human-milk banking facilities like that at Kalafong Hospital,” says Jordan.  

The Discovery Fund also supported the renovations of the breast-milk banks in Kimberley and Potchefstroom Hospitals in 2017 and Witbank Hospital in 2018.

“In some instances, this has inspired partners to reinvest and upgrade a decade later, which is essential to the sustainability of the cause, as technology has to be maintained.”

Bringing maternal and child health closer to the community

In 2018, the SABR received the Discovery Foundation Excellence Award for its innovative SOStainer Clinic in Mankweng, Limpopo. The pilot project will launch soon and is based at the Ratang Bana early childhood development centre.

The facility hosts a breastmilk collection corner. The SABR has also delivered food parcels, feeding 1,000 community members during lockdown in December 2020 and built a borehole while the toilets are under construction. 

To find out more about the award-winning South African Breastmilk Reserve, visit www.sabr.org.za.

This article was paid for by Discovery Central Services.