Viet Nam’s first human milk bank was recently opened at the Da Nang Maternity and Paediatrics Hospital.

Mr Roger Mathisen, the Programme Director for Alive & Thrive in Southeast Asia, (left) with a mother and her newborn baby

The milk bank is funded by the Margaret A Cargill and the Bill & Melinda Gates foundations, and aims to promote breastfeeding in Viet Nam by providing lactation support for Vietnamese mothers who cannot breastfeed their babies due to their babies having health problems.

Technical support for the international-standard milk bank is provided by the global health innovation organisation PATH and the Alive & Thrive initiative funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the governments of Canada and Ireland.  Its human milk supplies are donated by healthy mothers, and are then pasteurised and tested for diseases before being kept in cold storage for future use.

The hospital will follow strict regulations for collecting breast milk, such as in the selection and screening of milk donors, milking hygiene and temperature-controlled milk processing, as well as pasteurisation, bacteriological examination, and temperature-controlled transport. 

The bank is expected to store enough breast milk to help feed between 3,000 and 4,000 premature or sick infants every year.

According to the hospital, about 15,000 children are born at the hospital each year, about 4,000 of whom do not have access to breast milk due for reasons of premature birth, abandonment, sickness or being placed in isolation with their mothers who have infectious diseases.

According to scientific research, breastfeeding is one of the most essential ways to reduce infant mortality because it helps babies strengthen their immune system, and ensure their comprehensive development.

The Director of the municipal Department of Health, Mrs Ngo Thi Kim Yen, remarked that over recent years the local healthcare sector has always paid special attention to protecting the health of local children, with a focus on promoting breastfeeding.  The human milk bank is considered a special breastfeeding support centre, thereby effectively promoting the healthcare activities for children locally and in the central region as a whole.

Ms Nemat Hajeebhoy, the Country Director of Alive & Thrive Vietnam, said that human milk banks have been operating in many developed countries worldwide over the past decades.  She also highlighted the significance of the bank in raising awareness amongst women of preserving human milk as a precious asset for their children.

Doctor Nguyen Duc Vinh, the Head of the national Mothers and Children Health Department affirmed, “This human milk bank ensures all local babies can have access to lifesaving milk, regardless of the circumstances in which they are born.”

This model for human milk banks will be expanded into other Vietnamese localities in the year ahead in a bid to bring about an equal chance of healthy and successful lives to children nationwide.