Table 1

Characteristics of scenarios considered in modeling the potential impact of different breast-feeding recommendations in children born to HIV-infected women in sub-Saharan Africa


Idealistic scenarios
Realistic* scenarios

Recommendation
All infants not breast-fed (U)
All infants exclusively breast-fed for 6 months (V)
All infants exclusively breast-fed for 4 months (W)
All infants not breast-fed (X)
All infants exclusively breast-fed for 6 months (Y)
All infants exclusively breast-fed for 4 months (Z)

Proportion Not breast-fed (f)
1.00
0.00
0.00
0.70
0.00
0.00
Proportion exclusively breast-fed (b)
0.00
1.00
1.00
0.00
0.85
0.85
Proportion on mixed-feeding (m)
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.30
0.15
0.15
Recommended breast-feeding duration (1/δ months)
NA
6
4
NA
6
4

* Realistic scenarios assume 85% compliance in exclusively breast-fed infants and 70% compliance in replacement-fed infants [21–23].

Atashili et al. BMC Infectious Diseases 2008 8:66   doi:10.1186/1471-2334-8-66