Nutrition in Kenya

Meet Mathew, a tea farmer from Kenya. Mathew supplies green leaf to his local Tea Factory and has benefited from the Sourced with Care programme by receiving training as a Peer Health Educator.

Access to medical resources and an understanding of good health practices is often limited. This can lead to high maternal mortality rates, HIV infection, pressure on family finances due to high fertility rates, lack of productivity and low income.

Twinings supports the training of Peer Health Educators. The Peer Health Educators participate in a series of training sessions (topics include reproductive health, sexually transmitted infections, family planning, pre- and post-natal care, nutrition, etc.) that take place in the workplace.

Once trained, the Peer Health Educators share their knowledge with other workers, friends and family. Here you can see Mathew presenting at his local medical camp.

Sharing knowledge is key. Twinings strives to build confidence in communication skills so that people can discuss important health issues at work and at home.

Peer Health Educators like Mathew encourage friends and neighbours to attend the medical camp. In rural communities in Kenya, Twinings aims to improve access to healthcare facilities by supporting camps like this one.

As a result of training people like Mathew, there have been vast improvements in understanding women’s health. For example, awareness of the risk of HIV transmission from mother to child has risen from 10% to 60%.

Mathew is happy that he was selected and trained as a Peer Health Educator. This has enabled him to improve nutrition for his family. During the training sessions, participants are educated on healthy, balanced diets. Here you can see Mathew’s meal plan for the week.

Mathew lives with his wife Julia, and two daughters, Grace and Evalyne. The family have a dairy cow to provide them with milk and any additional milk is sold on as an additional source of income.

Mathew says “I didn’t realize how much work my wife has been doing until I started supporting her with household chores. Before I received training on reproductive health I never used to help her, but now I know better and we are happy together. How I wish other men could do the same.”