In this letter to Lancet, Michael Latham and express our outrage at the UN hastily changing its policy on this issue. This was not based on any new scientifc evidence (except the fact that $50 worth of ARVs given during pregnancy, resulting in a reduction in prenatal transmission would be “wasted” by “allowing” the mother to breastfeed). Supposedly it was based on a conviction that “informed choice” is a human right. If so: (1) Where’s the human right? Where’s the “choice”? it’s the only human right that is not universal. (It’s virtually illegal for an HIV+ woman in most rich countries to choose to breastfeed.) (2) Where’s the “informed”? A decade later we still have too little evidence on risks of breastfeeding versus to provide solid information on which to enable individual mothers to make such a difficult choice.

Friends working in the UN at the time said the real reason for the policy change was  “political pressure.”

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