The role of Kilimani Sesame in the healthy development of Tanzanian preschool children

Kilimani Sesame, a media intervention that employs print, radio, and television, was developed to entertain and educate preschool children in Tanzania. This study examined the effects of a six-week intervention delivering Kilimani Sesame material to 223 children in the rural district of Kisarawe and the city of Dar es Salaam. Results offer evidence that literacy and numeracy, social and emotional development, and health and hygiene significantly improved from baseline to post-intervention; those with the greatest receptivity to Kilimani Sesame performed the best after the intervention, controlling for baseline scores, sex, age, location, and general media receptivity. This study shows that an educational media intervention directed towards very young children can have an impact on their healthy development, even in locales where populations have minimal resources and face extreme hardships. (C) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.