A Study on Human Milk Bank A New Initiation in Kerala

Authors

Infant mortality, Human Milk Bank, Liquid Gold, Nursing Mothers.

In India, where 40 out of every 1000 infants die before the age of 5 because of various reasons. In infant

mortality rate, our nation remains highest in the world, followed by China. However, India is making good

progress in reducing the infant deaths through a number of Government initiatives. One among those is

human milk bank. Human milk is the only lifesaving, nutritious food that can keep an infant alive and

healthy. Similar to the activities of a blood bank a breast milk bank works on to receive and supply donated

breast milk to pre-term babies. Health experts call donated breast milk as ‘liquid gold’ and consider it as a

boon for babies with poor health and a weak immune system. The number of milk banks are very less in

India, when it is compared with the population growth rate. Human milk bank is totally a new initiative for

Keralites. This study is focused to find out the significance of human milk bank and its level of awareness

among nursing mothers in Kerala. It is also attempted by means of this study to find out whether they are

ready to accept the novel public welfare concept.

Tess Jacob1 , Sony Vijayan2

1 M. Phil. Scholar, 2 Associate Professor, Department of Commerce and Management, Amrita School of Arts and

Science, Kochi