Bushes that Grow Are the Future Forest Radio Series

The IYCN Project collaborated with Radio Christian Voice, a popular national radio broadcaster, to produce the campaign, which airs in English and four local languages. The campaign follows Sister Loveness, a health worker, as she travels around the country to hospitals, mothers' club meetings, and markets, teaching families how to prevent malnutrition in their children. The weekly one-hour programme discusses topics such as the common, harmful belief that infants less than six months of age need water and watery porridge to satisfy thirst and hunger, and airs a 15-minute prerecorded dramatic segment. Radio broadcasters, who received training on IYCN, conclude the programme with a discussion, often with listeners calling in or sending text messages with their questions. Each programme includes a quiz question to elicit discussion and test the knowledge of the audience.

Click here for the full scripts for the 13 one-hour programmes and the 15-minute pre-recorded spots in PDF format.

Child Nutrition

The IYCN Project is the USAID's flagship project on IYCN. Begun in 2006, the five-year project aims to improve nutrition for mothers, infants, and young children, as well as to prevent the transmission of HIV to infants and children. Their focus is on proven interventions that are effective during pregnancy and through the first two years of life.

The IYCN team designed the campaign to address beliefs about and barriers to infant and young child feeding, identified through the project's formative research. The formative research revealed that community members regularly turn to radio stations for health information, making it an ideal channel for communicating important infant feeding messages to communities across the country. Key findings included:

• There is a strong tradition and perception that infants less than six months of age need water or watery porridge, in part to satisfy thirst and hunger.
• Mothers and fathers generally believe that the quality and quantity of breast milk is strongly affected by the mother's diet. They perceive that it is often necessary to end exclusive breastfeeding if the mother does not eat well enough.
• Mothers feel that if an infant younger than six months is looking at them while they are eating or drinking, it means that the baby wants some of the food or drink.
• HIV-positive mothers may be confused by conflicting information they have received on feeding their young infants.