Em.'s In & Outs

It is often said that AIDS is a disease of poverty, and that poverty is a situation in which people do not have options. An illustration of the dilemma of HIV positive mothers as to wheter they should breastfeed or not. The disease being transmissible between mother and child by breastfeeding, choosing not to breasfeed stands as a forced disclosure of women's status. Whereas there still is the debate whereas a widespread openess about the AIDS situation could be good by contributing to break myths about it, it seems to me that mothers choosing not to breastfeed may not always realize the consequences of using infant formulas, which are costly, not as nutritive and entails several other health risks. One just has to remember the Nestlé's Baby Bottle Scandal, an instance where women were manipulated and misinformed to generate profits for a multinational company.

This is yet another example of how, even if consumption patterns are relocated towards basic needs, the AIDS pandemic does increase the dependence of developing nations upon industrial goods produced outside their boundaries.