Using Creative Industries to Drive Maternal and Newborn Awareness
Maternal and newborn health is shaped not only by hospitals and health systems, but also by the beliefs, behaviors, and caregiving practices within families and communities. For low birthweight, sick, and vulnerable newborns, family involvement is critical, yet newborn care is often seen as the responsibility of mothers alone. This limits male participation, reduces shared caregiving, and weakens public understanding of practices that can support newborn survival.
Fashion for Newborns is DMF's creative industry campaign that uses fashion as a platform to promote maternal and newborn health awareness. The campaign focuses on locally crafted, unisex baby carriers designed to support Kangaroo Mother Care and encourage both mothers and fathers to take an active role in caring for low birthweight, sick, and vulnerable newborns. By placing newborn care on a fashion runway, DMF brings a clinical and family health message into a public, creative, and highly visible space. The campaign is implemented in partnership with Swahili Fashion Week, one of East Africa's leading fashion platforms. Founded by Tanzanian Pan-African couturier Mustafa Hassanali, Swahili Fashion Week provides DMF with a designated showcase section to present maternal and newborn health through fashion, creativity, and public storytelling.
As part of the campaign, participating designers are trained and oriented on newborn vulnerability, Kangaroo Mother Care, male involvement in newborn care, and the lived experiences of caregivers raising low birthweight, sick, and vulnerable newborns. This process helps designers understand that the baby carriers are not only fashion pieces, but practical caregiving tools that support warmth, bonding, and shared responsibility between mothers and fathers.
The showcase takes place on Swahili Fashion Week's main runway, where locally crafted, unisex baby carriers inspired by real caregiver stories are presented to designers, models, media, fashion audiences, and the wider public. The campaign connects the realities of families caring for newborns with the creativity of Tanzanian designers and the visibility of one of the region's most recognized fashion platforms.
Through Fashion for Newborns, DMF uses the influence of designers, models, media, and cultural platforms to challenge the idea that newborn care belongs only to women. The campaign reframes caregiving as a shared family responsibility and promotes practical tools that can help parents support low birthweight, sick, and vulnerable newborns.
The campaign has been celebrated by fans and media and regularly generates over 2 million social media engagements across platforms. Its success shows how creative industries can carry public health messages in ways that are engaging, memorable, and culturally relevant.
To partner with us or support future editions, please email us at partnerships@dorismollelfoundation.org.