By Conan Businge

UGANDA has started producing internationally accepted ready-to-use therapeutic foods for the treatment of malnutrition.

The foods are meant for the acutely malnourished and those living with HIV/AIDS. They are produced by the Kasese-based RECO Industries.
The technical director, Brian Rwabogo, said the company can produce eight metric tonnes of the foods per day.

This makes Uganda one of the 11 countries in the world producing the foods, whose main ingredient is groundnuts.

The president of the University Research Company, Barbara Tanner, whose organisation is funded by United States Agency for Development to support RECO, said: “This is a tremendous achievement for Uganda and the region.”

The organisation implements the NuLife, Food and Nutrition interventions programme known in Uganda.

Tanner explained that when an HIV-positive person’s immunity falls, the therapeutic foods are the best to boost it.

She was addressing the press yesterday at NuLife offices in Kampala. A patient will spend about sh5,000 for a day’s dosage, added Tanner.

The therapeutic foods are being used to treat malnourished children in Malawi, Niger, Haiti and Sierra Leone. It has also been used in the DR Congo, Ethiopia and Malawi.
The therapeutic foods can be taken by children over six months of age.

However, unlike other African countries, Uganda has attained an international patent which allows it to export the food to other countries.