Formula feeding increases infants’ infection, hospitalization rates: study
Vietnamese infants raised on formula have increased risk of infection and hospital admission, according to a study authored by researchers from the Curtin University Bentley Campus in Australia and the University of Medicine and Pharmacy in HCMC.
A survey by Vietnam’s Health Ministry in 2016 found that only 19 percent of Vietnamese infants are exclusively breastfed for the first six months, significantly lower than in neighboring Laos (40 percent) and Cambodia (60 percent).
Vietnam opened its first human milk bank in the central Da Nang City in 2017 to provide milk for 3,000-4,000 at-risk infants every year.
Phan Anh
