Milk Is Medicine

Staša Jordan, founder of the South African Breastmilk Reserve, tells the story of the hugely successful breast-milk donation initiative she began in 2003, writes Margot Bertelsmann

- Margot Bertelsmann

WHO IS STAŠA JORDAN?

I was born Staša Kersevan in Ljubljana, Slovenia, in 1978, to a multi-ethnic family comprising Croats and Serbs. By naturalization, after World War II we were given Italian citizenship. I studied political science at the University of Cape Town, and I went on to do a master’s degree in public policy design and research at the University of Pretoria. In 2003, I was looking at HIV-positive mothers and investigating human-milk banking, and so the South African Breastmilk Reserve (SABR) was born. Around the same time, I was also becoming a mother.

YOU HAVE A 16-YEAR OLD SON, LOGAN, AND A TEN-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER, SOPHIA.

Yes, it was with the birth of Logan that I was inspired toward maternal and child health policy and public-health dynamics. This opportunity to engage with public health and the feeding of infants born to HIV-positive mothers is how it all began, and it is the story that today is the SABR.

SO YOU DECIDED TO ESTABLISH A MILK BANK?