Lesso lessons provide nutritional information to women
The World Food Programme (WFP) has identified malnutrition as the number one cause of death in children under five.
In Kenya, over 26 percent of children under 5 years of age, that’s 1 in 4 children, face malnutrition issues, resulting in long-term developmental problems, as well as stunted physical growth and immunity problems.
This has been attributed to young mothers not knowing proper breastfeeding and complementary feeding practices.
To tackle this, Roto Tanks in partnership with Ogilvy Africa launched the Lesso Lessons project in Kajiado County that is aimed at providing nutritional information to expectant and breastfeed mothers.
The main aim of the launch is to provide nutritional information and help fight the increasing malnutrition in that county.
Lesso Lessons is an initiative that makes use of creative and design thinking to tackle this seemingly ever-present issue in a way that seamlessly fits into Kenyan women’s lives. Along with input from healthcare professionals, the team adapted over 1 million data points from some of the most recent studies on postnatal nutrition during the design process to make the utility relevant to our region.
The lessos have special writings with photos that help the mother know the types of foods to give to his/her child at all growth stages.
Speaking during the launch, the Roto Tanks CEO, Heril Bangera, said that the Lesso Lessons is an ideal that weaves the modern postnatal, nutritional guide into a traditional, everyday garment to help new and expectant mothers raise healthier children.
“We want to help young mothers in rural parts of East Africa on how to combat malnutrition in children in the first 24 months of their development. We also want to change the traditional pattern fabric garment called lesso to educate young Kenyan mothers in rural areas on proper postnatal nutrition care,” said Mr Bangera.
“It is very difficult for a breastfeeding mother or pregnant woman to walk without a lesso. That is why we decided to provide nutrition information on the lessos to help mothers feed their children properly.”
The company also aims at reaching out to women in other counties and in their local languages.
Through the Lesso Lessons project, the two organizations aim to distribute over 1 million lessos in parts of Central, Eastern, North Eastern, Rift Valley, Coast, Western, Nyanza and Nairobi regions.
“We will design lessos that have nutritional information in all languages. Our goal is to ensure that every mother in Kenya has a lesso in her vernacular language,” said Mr Bangera.
The first 24 months are the most pivotal in a child’s nutrition and development, the team created 3 different Lesso Lessons , each one tackling one of three key development periods from time of birth (0-6 months), six months to one year and from 12 months to 24 months.
The nutrition officer at Bissil County Health Center, Zaitun Mohamud, said there was a need to sensitize mothers about the importance of proper feeding as a way of fighting malnutrition in the county.
“Many children are malnourished and not because their parents do not have food but because of lack of sensitization and awareness on nutrition matters. Most of them give their children concoction and bring their children for treatment when it’s too late,” said Ms Mohamud.