Bukene, Tanzania

These children are healthy because their mothers have learned to prepare nutritious foods.

In discussion with Tanzanian staff, World Vision developed a special project focusing on health and nutrition of mothers and children in Bukene Area Development Programme (ADP). This two-year project is funded by the New Zealand Government through its African Non-Governmental Organisation Fund.
The project has four main aims:

1. To improve health services in Bukene ADP by increasing the skill levels and services of traditional birth attendants and village health workers.
2. To improve women’s nutrition during pregnancy and breastfeeding.
3. To improve nutrition for infants and children by encouraging medically recommended methods of breastfeeding and complementary feeding.
4. To increase health awareness, especially about immunisation (provided free by the government) and HIV/AIDS.

So far the project has trained seven teachers to hold workshops. These teachers have held workshops for 30 village health workers and 30 traditional birth attendants. Now each community within the ADP has two village health workers and two traditional birth attendants who are trained in health care. These workers have started to educate their communities on nutrition and health issues.

In Uduka village a lady called Sofi visited one of the trained village health workers to find out more about the project. “You are going to learn about a lot of issues related to maternal and infant nutrition,” the health worker said. “Pregnant and breastfeeding women require extra meals to maintain nutrition. Some examples of nutritious foods include eggs, all kinds of meat, milk, green leafy vegetables, rice, porridge, groundnuts, sweet potatoes, pumpkins and fruit.”

Sofi was surprised at this information and replied, “But my grandmother told me that pregnant women should not eat intestines because the long “coiled” intestine will coil and tie around the baby’s neck while in the womb, causing it to be stillborn. And if a pregnant woman eats a honeycomb intestine she will bear a baby with bald patches on his head. She also told me pregnant women are not allowed to eat nsasa (a locally available dark green vegetable) because it will make them deliver a very black baby similar to the color of nsasa. My grandmother also told me that nowadays pregnant women can eat eggs, but in the olden days they were strictly prohibited because they believed the eggs would cause bald babies.”

The village health worker was quick to pass on her knowledge of nutrition. “What your grandmother has told you are old wives’ tales that don’t have any connection with the reality of nutrition,” she said. “Proteins like eggs and all parts of the meat are very important for the pregnant mother and the growing baby in the womb.

“This is good news for the people of Uduka,” said Sofi. “We will learn and gain more knowledge about nutrition. I will spread this good message to all of the people in our village!”