By Deborah Torrington | Marketing Manager
We’re excited to report that the 1,000 Days of Motherhood program will soon be rolled out in Zambia’s Eastern Province, which borders Malawi and Mozambique. With the goal of reaching another 540 women’s listening groups, that means an additional 11,000 vulnerable mothers will be reached with high quality nutrition education radio content covering the first 1,000 days from conception.
Childhood stunting in the Eastern Province is at alarming levels, due to poverty, erratic food security and a lack of knowledge about nutrition and health issues. It’s also an area where illiteracy amongst rural women is more than 80%, which is why audio content in local languages is so valuable. In our trip to the Eastern Province this month, we picked up that many women do not have the correct information on matters like breastfeeding, or the importance of protein, for example.
In recent years, the cost of electricity in Zambia has quadrupled. One of the knock-on effects of this is that the cost of radio airtime has doubled, making it increasingly expensive to broadcast radio programs. The 1,000 Days of Motherhood programming, pre-recorded onto our Lifeplayers, means that women’s listening groups can listen to programs at their own convenience, without having to rely on broadcasts. As the majority of mothers are subsistence farmers, they can adjust listening times according to what is best during the rainy season, planting months, harvesting periods and so forth. Mothers also tell us that listening in a group is best because they can discuss what they learn with each other.
Plans are underway to produce new content too. The Food and Nutrition Commission and their partners are currently looking at what other health information women will find most beneficial.
The 1,000 Days of Motherhood program gives so many women in Zambia a lifeline to knowledge and education that directly benefits their own health and that of their children. We’re delighted that so many more women are soon going to be a part of the learning!
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