Healthy Lives

Like everywhere in the world, families in Zambia rely on “Dr. Mom” for most of their health care – but unlike the developed world, “Dr. Amai" (Mom in Nanja) or "Dr. Bamayo" (Mom in Bemba) may never have had a chance to benefit from basic education. Rural families in Zambia often lack basic knowledge about important health topics that we take for granted, such as basic first aid and nutrition.

COMACO has recently developed a new learning tool called the Better Life Book.  This publication provides guidelines on technical methods and practices for a range of topics including family health and hygiene, family planning, compost making, conservation farming techniques, and agroforestry skills.  Each page is referred to as a Learning Page. 

Based on tried-and-true health materials for developing nations from such experts as WHO, UNFPA and FAO, and supported by grants from the European Union, these Learning Pages provide information and training on common Zambian health challenges such as infant diarrhea, family nutrition, sanitation and reproductive health. These Learning Pages are composed of illustrative pictures with very basic text. Whenever possible, Zambian examples illustrate concepts – such as the food pyramid, which has been re-created using all Zambian foods, including IT’S WILD! products such as brown rice! It consists of a strong plastic folder that binds individual topics together. This format allows new topics to be easily introduced, and easy updates to be made to existing pages. Future topics to be added to the Healthy Lives reference folder will include HIV/AID prevention, First Aid, and Prenatal Nutrition.

Each of COMACO’s registered producer groups receives a copy of the current folder. During monthly producer group meetings, the Better Life Book is a focal point of information for explaining better practices to improve family welfare and good health while living in harmony with their environment. Whole families are invited to learn and become empowered with new knowledge.