Human milk banks in China struggling to survive

Liu Yang China Plus Published: 2017-05-21 17:44:34
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China’s human milk banks are struggling to survive due to a lack of donors and high costs, reports the Xinhua news agency.

A nurse from Shaanxi Provincial No. 4 People's Hospital feeding breast milk from the human milk bank run by the hospital to an infant. [Photo: Xinhua]

A nurse from Shaanxi Provincial No. 4 People's Hospital feeding breast milk from the human milk bank run by the hospital to an infant. [Photo: Xinhua]

The news comes as the country marked National Breastfeeding Awareness Day.

Wu Wenyi, director of the breast milk bank in Taihe Maternity Hospital, told Xinhua that as the service doesn’t accept frozen milk, women are required to donate milk in person.

Wu added that the screening process is also complicated, and that many Chinese people are unaware of such milk banks, which has led to an inadequate supply. 

Massive expenditure is another big challenge for the country’s milk banks as most of them are nonprofit, according to Xinhua. 

Wu Wenyi said it costs the hospital about 1200 yuan (about $US 174) for each 150 milliliters of breast milk, and the hospital spends at least 300,000 yuan (about 43,586 USD) on running costs each year. 

Donated breast milk at the milk bank in Taihe Maternity Hospital in Beijing. [Photo: Taihe Maternity Hospital]

Donated breast milk at the milk bank in Taihe Maternity Hospital in Beijing. [Photo: Taihe Maternity Hospital]

Established in March 2016 as the first nonprofit milk bank in Beijing, the facility at the Taihe Maternity Hospital has collected nearly 40 liters of breast milk from 150 mothers, Wu said. 

Liu Li, from the Chinese Committee on Child Health, told Xinhua that China has about 1.5 million premature babies each year, and they are in urgent need of human breast milk, making such banks a necessity.

Research shows that breast milk has medicinal properties, which could provide protection against bacteria and viruses for premature infants, Liu said. 

27-year-old Hong Jiangmiao said she had never heard of “milk banks” before giving birth, but now, she has donated over 20 times within two months following the birth of her baby. 

“Every time when I am donating, watching the milk flowing into the bottle, I think that another premature baby can have a full meal, and it makes me feel good,” Hong said. 

China's first human milk bank was founded in March 2013 in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province. Afterwards, milk banks were gradually established in other cities such as Shanghai, Chongqing, Nanjing. 

According to the fifth national survey on health provision in China, 58.5 percent of babies under six months were breast-fed in 2013, while the figure was only 27.6 percent in 2008, according to Xinhua. 

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