2019 to present

On 9th May 2019, President Edgar Lungu declared maternal and prenatal deaths a public health emergency in Zambia. Adolescent girls (15-19 years) are the individuals most at risk due to high levels of teenage marriage and pregnancy; with 29% expecting their first or second child. In Lusaka, St John Zambia and Safer Motherhood Action Group volunteers help the Ministry of Health by supporting clinic teams to deliver maternal child heath services (MCH) in the community. Service providers face severe financial hardship, where the cost of printed leaflet is an unaffordable luxury. 

This research is funded by the AHRC GCRF Urgent Grant scheme. In conjunction with the University of Huddersfield and St John Zambia, the research investigates the potential of using lullaby as a zero-cost intervention to communicate essential knowledge and skills to support the transitioning of adolescents into motherhood. 

An ethnographic study of MCH practice in Chunga, Kayosha and Matero discovered: a local live-birth rate of 75-85%; mothers often sang gospel songs queuing at the clinic; the psychological benefits of singing lullabies were not widely known. Focus groups with MCH teams, volunteers and mothers explored the health priorities of the unborn child and also the forgotten needs of the mother. 

Our findings steered a series composition workshops with that resulted in each MCH team creating of six new lullabies; three instructional lullabies designed to safeguard the unborn/ newborn and three lullabies designed to support the wellbeing of the mother. To test the effectiveness and acceptability of the intervention within MCH practice and local communities a successful two-centre pilot study was completed. The intervention responsiveness was also tested with the rapid production of a coronavirus song prior to any recorded cases in Zambia. 

The research has been disseminated at the Geneva Health Forum and at Carnegie Hall’s Lullaby Project International Convention. It won the 2020 Good Design Australia Awards: Best in class for social impact.