Posters to encourage group discussion

The ideas for these posters have come from work carried out by Veronika Scherbaum with the Oromo people in South Ethiopia, who have many traditional beliefs concerning mother and child care. Posters can be used to help encourage discussion of what people believe and why. Together this can lead to developing a more positive understanding of healthy mother and child care. Try adapting these posters to use among your community.

Make up more questions you could use to start discussions. Encourage people to ask questions themselves. Involve older people. Make sure the important facts are brought out in the discussion. Try using drama to bring out traditional beliefs before discussion.

To copy the pictures, draw lines over them using the marks to help you. Each small square measures 10mm x 10mm. For example…

• To make a poster 5 times the size (400mm x 300mm), make each square 50mm x 50mm.
• To make a poster 10 times the size (800mm x 600mm), make each square 100mm x 100mm.
  

Carefully mark the same number of larger squares onto a large piece of paper.

Copy each square onto the larger sheet. Try to alter details of hair, face and clothing to make it appropriate to your culture (we have deliberately used a mixture of cultures to help you). When you have finished, go over with a dark pen. You can then trace many copies either onto paper or onto clear or coloured plastic for teaching purposes, maybe colouring in the clothes and hair.

Let us know how you get on. You can use this technique to copy many other drawings.

PREGNANCY

Q What do you think is important for pregnant women to know?
Q What types of food are important for pregnant women?
Q Why is it important for pregnant women to go to the clinic?

Important points

All good food is safe for pregnant women to eat. Pregnant women should eat lots of iron-rich food too, such as dark green vegetables, liver or beans to prevent anaemia. Women should eat more when they are pregnant, so their babies will be strong and healthy. Small babies, from mothers who do not eat well when pregnant, die more often and are more likely to be sick. Pregnant women should not smoke, nor drink much alcohol.

Pregnant women should receive regular check-ups as soon as they know they are pregnant.