This week will see the inauguration of a Human Milk Bank at the Camilo Cienfuegos Hospital in Sancti Spíritus, the ninth created in Cuba, as announced by Roberto Álvarez Fumero, head of the Public Health Ministry’s Maternal and Infant Department.
Speaking to ACN, the official explained that the purpose of these units is to ensure greater survival rates of newborns with congenital anomalies and those suffering from malnutrition in the early stages of life.
Breast milk banks are also located in hospitals in Pinar del Río, Havana, Matanzas, Las Tunas, Granma, Holguín, Santiago de Cuba and Guantánamo, he noted.
Álvarez Fumero clarified that the services offered not only benefit mothers admitted in maternity hospitals, but are available to any mother in these territories.
He also explained that there are a series of collection points, as six of the eight banks currently operating have refrigerated transport for storing and delivery of donated breast milk, and that donors may store milk in their home freezer for up to a week, thus avoiding daily trips to the bank.
This vital substance is processed and pasteurized, to be provided to children born prematurely with very low birth weights, significantly aiding their recovery and reducing the incidence of complications, Álvarez Fumero emphasized.
In addition, necrotizing enterocolitis rates are reduced, as is the time that newborns must be on a ventilator. Infections originating in the prenatal period as a result of premature birth are controlled faster, and newborns’ weight increases rapidly, among other benefits.
Last year 3,019 Cuban women donated breast milk, for a total of 738 liters, which benefited 1,285 newborns.
Álvarez Fumero reiterated the importance of initiating breastfeeding within the first hour after giving birth, and for this to be the exclusive source of nutrition for the first six months and continued for a period of two years or more, in order to provide the maximum benefits to infants. (ACN)
