Principle is simple: mothers donate milk, which is pasteurized and then delivered to babies in need

Patrick, a premature baby weighing a minuscule 1.2 kilograms, was "saved" by a breast milk bank in South Africa, where child mortality is high despite being the continent's most developed economy.

"It was a question of life and death because of the fact he could not go on formula," said his 39-year-old mother Annerleigh Bartlett.