Milk Fund to Reduce Mom - Child HIV

“The Milk Fund for Children in the Project to Reduce Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV, Thai Red Cross” is a fund that was graciously bestowed by Her Royal Highness Princess Soamsawali Krom Muen Suddhanarinatha with a donation of 500,000 baht (five hundred thousand baht) on January 24, 1990, to the Thai Red Cross AIDS Research Center. The fund was established to provide powdered milk for children.

Most cases of AIDS in children are caused by children being infected from mothers who are infected with HIV during pregnancy. The HIV virus can be transmitted to the baby in the womb, from the mother to the baby during childbirth, and after childbirth through breast milk. Therefore, children born to mothers who are infected with HIV should consume formula milk to replace breast milk, which can help to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV to some extent.

         Currently, donations to the Milk Fund for Children in the Project to Reduce Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV, the Thai Red Cross Society, are used to help children from a variety of foundations, as follows:

• Human Development Foundation (Mercy Centre)
• Little Birds Foundation
• Association for the Promotion of the Status of Women
• Public Health Centers in Bangkok Metropolis
• Department of Corrections (Roi Et)
• Ministry of Social Development and Human Security
• The HIV Netherlands Australia Thailand Research Collaboration (HIV-NAT)
• SEARCH Research Foundation
• King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital, the Thai Red Cross Society
• Government and private organizations

From 2013 to 2021, a total of 189 children aged 0 to 3 years have received powdered milk from the Milk Fund for Children in the Project to Reduce Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV, the Thai Red Cross Society. The total number of boxes is approximately 13,488, with a total value of over 13,000,000 baht.

The annual cost of purchasing powdered milk to be given to children born to HIV-positive mothers and mothers affected by AIDS is 1,000,000 baht