This week, Salma Hayek made headlines during a trip she recently took to Sierra Leone. While there, she breastfed a malnourished infant whose mother can not breastfeed. Many women in Sierra Leone are both malnourished in addition to being prevented by husbands to breastfeed. They are forced to stop their milk production after only a few months because “it is not acceptable to have sexual relations with breast feeding women”. Sierra Leone has the highest infant mortality rate in the world, in part to malnutrition. 

Children are having children in the US, but in Africa they start even earlier. Many “women” get married and have babies at thirteen years old. When I circulated the video to friends, one friend expressed to me, “I wish I could donate my freezer to Africa”. I was not fortunate to have the over-lactation issue, but I do know many women who freeze breast milk for later use. My sister actually donated her breastmilk to a local organization, but I know many mother’s milk goes to waste.

It didn’t take me long to find The International Breast Milk Project. IBMP has been providing breast milk to babies in Africa and US since 2006. To date, they’ve donated almost half a million ounces of breast milk to Africa and sick babies in the US. 

The process is not complicated if you wish to donate breast milk. When you contact IBMP, they come to you for a bloodtest, to determine you are drug and disease-free. Donating women then receive any equipment necessary, including a hospital-grade breast pump and storage bags. The breast milk is then packed up in a provided cooler with gel packs, and sent to IBMP via FedEx. IBMP distributes about 25% of donated breast milk to Africa. The rest goes to critically ill babies in the US through Prolacta, who processes the milk for hospitals. This webpage gives you a good starting point for information.

You can also donate money, of course, follow them on Twitter, join their Facebook group, or volunteer. Let’s help to ensure all babies get the nutition they need in face of adversity!