OpenForum, a blog supported by the journal Health and Human Rights, is currently hosting a discussion on how a human rights framework informs decisions on formula versus exclusive breast-feeding by HIV-positive mothers. We invite readers to contribute their thoughts and opinions on this matter.

Dialogue on this issue began with an article in Health and Human Rights by pediatrician Dr. Agnès Binagwaho, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health in Rwanda, on the merits of formula feeding for mothers in resource-limited settings (http://www.hhrjournal.org/index.php/hhr/article/view/28/91.)  Dr. Claudio Schuftan, a public health physician and one of the founders of the People’s Health Movement, responded in a Perspectives piece that highlighted the limitations of bottle feeding in sub-Saharan Africa

(http://hhrjournal.org/blog/perspectives/rights-to-bottle-feeding-in-poor-countries/.)  

Continuing the exchange, Dr. Binagwaho responded to Dr. Schuftan on OpenForum, where she compared the reasoning used in support of exclusive breast-feeding to past arguments against using ART in Africa (http://www.hhropenforum.org/2009/05/a-response-to-dr-claudio-schuftan/.)   Dr. Schuftan, joined by public health nutritionist Dr. Ted Greiner, in turn offered a final response, also posted on OpenForum (http://www.hhropenforum.org/2009/06/a-further-response-to-dr-binagwaho-on-human-rights-for-infants-of-hiv-positive-mothers/.)  

We welcome further discussion and comments on this lively exchange from our readers (http://www.hhropenforum.org/2009/06/a-further-response-to-dr-binagwaho-on-human-rights-for-infants-of-hiv-positive-mothers/#respond.)

Health and Human Rights: An International Journal (www.hhrjournal.org) is dedicated to scholarship and praxis that advance health as an issue of fundamental human rights and social justice. The journal seeks to provide a forum for academics, practitioners, and activists from public health, human rights and related fields to explore how rights-based approaches to health can be implemented in practice.  OpenForum is a blog hosted by the Health and Human Rights community and shares the journal’s dedication to action-oriented dialogue about health and human rights. Visit OpenForum at www.hhropenforum.org for unique commentaries by professionals writing from the field, as well as provocative summaries, opinions, and reviews of news articles, other blogs and journal articles.