This article argues that even in industrialized countries HIV-infected women should be allowed to choose how to feed their babies rather than being coerced into artificially feeding, as is now the practice nearly everywhere. This is because when they are on anti-retroviral drugs, have no measurable viral load, and exclusively breastfeed, the risk of HIV transmission is likely similar to the risk of death from not breastfeeding. Unlike what most health professionals and policy-makers assume, this risk is not zero. In fact, in the USA, not breastfeeding is the seventh largest cause of infant death. Click here to access the article.
