This post is part of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's
coverage of a convening of global health and communications
experts, openly and creatively discussing the opportunities and
challenges of promoting life-saving behavior change. Posted
originally on Impatient Optimists. Written by Charles Wanga and
Mary Jane Lacoste When nurses broke the news to Omari Ali that
his premature, twin boys were in need of specialized care from
him, the 27-year-old father looked worried and confused. He
wondered what could he possibly provide that would help save his
tiny sons? Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC), the nurses explained, an
intervention that uses skin-to-skin contact—a parent’s own
body—to warm and nurture the child. Ali, a car mechanic from
Amani Freshi suburb in Stone Town, was nervous. The boys,
Idrissa and Issa, were so little, weighing less than 1.5
kilograms. He worried that swaddling the babies to his chest
would hurt them in some way. But the nurses at the Mwembeladu
Health Center carefully explained to Ali how