what's up everybody my name is Austin
Mayer I am a video journalist that comes
out with new videos every Thursday on
YouTube and Facebook today I got some
very exciting news to share with you but
first I'm going to need a drumroll I am
a National Geographic Explorer yes I am
so honored to announce that I've been
awarded a explorers grant by the
National Geographic Society to pursue a
documentary film project in Zambia
Africa so what does that mean well first
off it means I am quitting my current
non storytelling job then on January
15th I will hop on a plane and head for
Zambia Africa and I plan to be there for
a few months working on this project the
documentary I pitched a National
Geographic is an international health
story tentatively called
science first tradition in the first a
thousand days in my film I want to
document the tension between traditional
health practices and scientific best
practices when it comes to infant and
maternal health care in the first a
thousand days of life the first 1000
days represents roughly the time from
when a baby is conceived to the child's
second birthday and research shows that
this is the critical make-or-break
window when it comes to setting the
foundation for human potential in life I
first got interested in this topic when
I was reporting alongside Nicholas
Kristof of the New York Times as the
winner of his 2015 win a trip
competition he and I travelled to India
where we reported on malnutrition and I
became fascinated by how small behavior
changes in the first a thousand days can
make incredibly large impact on the
lives of individuals which then branches
out to communities and countries and
this is such an interesting topic to
cover right now because according to
Roger Thurow who is a senior fellow at
the Chicago Council on global affairs
world health and development
organizations have in the past
targeted age 5 to that primary school
entrance age as milestone targets for
intervention but as evidence has mounted
for the cost-effectiveness of
intervention in that first a thousand
day window gov
health and development organizations are
starting to focus on this critical time
in life I chose to focus my story in
Zambia because it is a country that
illustrates this wider global trend of
refocusing and prioritizing energy and
resources towards that first a thousand
a window with around 45% stunting Zambia
has one of the highest rates of child
undernutrition in the world according to
Helen Sherwin of US aid in Zambia who's
one of my project affiliates 54 percent
of children under the age of 23 months
are stunted so to combat these issues
the government of Zambia has endorsed
this first a thousand most critical days
programme they've called not only on the
health sector but also agriculture water
and sanitation education gender and
social protection sectors as well in my
documentary I hope to bring to light
some of the challenges that mothers and
their children face around the world and
I hope to demonstrate how the evolution
of society is shaped by this delicate
balance between cultural traditions and
science if any of that interests you I
hope you subscribe to the YouTube
channel like the Facebook page because I
plan to continue coming out with my
weekly Thursday videos not only
documenting the process of making this
documentary but also bringing you a
bunch of different stories from Zambia
on a variety of things so as always
thank you so much for watching it means
the world to me and I will see you soon
[Music]
you