My Children Radio Drama

The 30-episode radio drama is aired in six languages by ten partner radio stations in Uganda. Florence, the heroine of the series, struggles to grow enough nutritious food to feed her family, and knows that her children are not as healthy as they could be. They are chronically ill, have bad skin, suffer from diarrhoea and have persistent coughs. But then she learns many of these problems can be reduced through diet — by farming and eating a vitamin A-rich tuber —the orange fleshed sweet potato (OFSP). She reluctantly decides to give orange sweet potato (OSP) a try. But first she has to stop her money-obsessed husband from selling the family farming plot to fund a foolish "business idea."

After each five-minute episode is aired, participating radio stations provide follow-up information and use interactive telephone voting systems provided by TRAC FM to measure how much people learn from it. Listeners are asked to participate through free text messaging (SMS) in an interactive radio poll. This technology lets listeners voice their opinions on the radio drama in real time, while making it easier to measure changes in their knowledge, attitudes, and behaviour. According to FRI, radio is the best tool to reach rural communities across Africa and the mobile phone revolution has only made radio better by allowing interaction between broadcaster and listeners. Broadcasters ask the audience questions such as, "Which of the following foods do you think provides the most nutrition for your children?" and provide a set of options to choose from. Listeners can then text their selection to a short telephone number, while the TRAC FM software graphs their answers in real time and plots them on a map.

The My Children radio drama forms part of a larger FRI programme called Her Farm Radio projects which place particular focus on the voice and knowledge needs of women farmers.

Nutrition, Child Health

According to FRI, Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) is a major public health concern in poorer countries and accounts for more than 600,000 deaths a year among children under five years of age. Uganda is among the African countries reported to be at high risk. VAD can impair immunity and cause eye damage that can lead to blindness and even death. Orange sweet potato (OSP) is packed with beta-carotene, an important source of vitamin A. One small, 150-gram serving of OSP can meet a five-year-old child’s daily requirement of vitamin A.

FRI expects the project will contribute to increased knowledge of the nutrition, preparation, and consumption of OSP in up to 350,000 households in 13 districts. FRI estimates that in Uganda 28% of children and 23% of women are vitamin A deficient. Approximately 43 million children under the age of five in sub-Saharan Africa contract VAD. Six per cent of deaths among children under five are due to vitamin A deficiency (VAD), which diminishes the body's ability to fight common infections such as diarrhoea and measles. Between 250,000 and 500,000 malnourished children in the developing world go blind each year due to VAD, making it the leading cause of preventable blindness.