Improving health through witty design

This iron fish offers relief from Anaemia.

An estimated 10% to 14% of the U.S. population is anaemic, the majority of that population women and children. But in Cambodia, those numbers skyrocket: 44% of Cambodians suffer from anaemia, including two-thirds of the country’s entire population of children. At the same time, about 70% of Cambodians live on less than $1 a day, pushing iron supplements (or red meat) far out of reach.

When Chris Charles, then a University of Guelph PhD student, travelled to Cambodia to tackle the problem, he had a crucial resource at hand: a study showing that simply adding iron to food while cooking could increase iron levels in the blood. But when he pitched the idea - essentially dropping a clunky, distasteful-looking block of iron into a skillet - Cambodian villagers were dubious.

A design flaw - this was an ugly piece of metal - kept Cambodian women from wanting to add it to the meals they were preparing for their families. “Actually almost no one used it,” says Gavin Armstrong, now CEO of the Lucky Iron Fish Project.

He and Charles conducted some boots-on-the-ground research, and eventually they arrived at the right connection: The fish is a Cambodian symbol of luck. “So the Lucky Iron Fish was born," Armstrong tells Co.Design.

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