Thirty five out of every 100 children born in Kitgum district after the LRA insurgency are experiencing stunted growth, a survey conducted by Lira University, Muni University and Palm Corps has revealed.

Aloka Bony, a principal investigator and lead researcher for Development Initiative for Northern Uganda (DINU) at Lira University says as a measure to mitigate the grim statistic, they are working together with Gulu University, Muni University and Palm Corps to develop food recipes to support malnourished children and those suffering from nodding syndrome.

He made the revelations on Wednesday, during a stakeholder meeting to chart a way of finding ways of cutting back on malnutrition in the district. The event took place at Labong-Akwang sub-county headquarters in Kitgum district.

The objective of the project is to increase the production of diversified foods following the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) war that left the population, especially children and pregnant mothers vulnerable without adequate food for consumption.

“As a result of poverty in northern Uganda, most of the vulnerable groups like children are stunted and this has affected them in terms of food production,” he said.

He explains that a baseline study was conducted showing that there is still a lot of malnutrition in northern Uganda with 34 percent of stuntedness among children below five years of age.

Empowerment initiative

This informed Aloka and the team to come up with interventions that will address poverty by increasing food production through diversified food and also promoting the food to have access to the markets so that the farmers are economically empowered.

“Most of our farmers produce food, but how to utilise the available food to improve the nutrition of their vulnerable members in the families is yet a challenge, this is why the programme is dubbed DINU-CHASE Poverty and Hunger,” he added.

Aloka says northern Uganda experienced a reduction in food production following the LRA insurgency, which cannot meet the demand of the many children born after the war, resulting in stunted growth.

He explains that they are encouraging farmers, schools and parents of children suffering from nodding syndrome to grow nutritive crops like soya, cabbage, and orange-fleshed potatoes which are rich in proteins, carbohydrates, energy and micronutrients for proper growth.

According to him, a protocol has been drawn waiting for approval by the ethical review committee before the recipes can be distributed for use by victims of nodding disease, and moderate and acute malnutrition.

The team also visited victims of nodding syndrome and assessed the types of food they are fed to inform them on the type of recipes to develop.

Good initiative

Angut Sabina, a resident of Lugwar Village, Tumangu parish, Labongo Akwang sub-county in Kitgum district who is taking care of three children suffering from nodding syndrome welcomed the initiative saying it will go a long way to improve the health of people suffering from the disease.

Adyee Margret, a resident of Mede Village in Pajimo Parish also another parent of a child suffering from the same asked the government to support them with recommended seeds to grow and support the health of their children.

However, Aloka explained that other consortiums like Palm Corps and the National Agricultural and Research Organisation (NARO) will be engaging farmer groups and communities to embrace this initiative.

Amito Freda Oceng, the nutrition focal person DINU Project, said almost one-third of children under five years in Uganda are stunted. Stunting increases with age, peaking at 37% among children 18–35 months.

“Stunting is greater among children in rural areas (305) than urban areas (24%) with some regional variations”. Said Amito

Farm for food production

According to her, they are currently doing site surveys on a few locations in the Acholi and Lango regions in northern Uganda where they plan on setting up an agricultural farm for food production to address immediate needs and planning for a longer term to ensure that a better future for the people of Uganda is witnessed.

“We see the production of food such as maize, cassava, sweet potatoes and much more as a means of helping the school become a self-sustaining, self-scaling and integrated development model to alleviate extreme poverty within the community, we believe every child deserves a chance to an education and it's our passion to see children and the communities we support empowered and have their potentials unlocked through our work”.

Uganda's national estimates, of which the prevalence is heterogeneous across the country, indicate that 3.6% of children suffer from moderate acute malnutrition, while 1.3% have severe acute malnutrition.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) last month said at least 518,000 people, or 40% of the region's population, were facing high levels of food insecurity.

Globally, in 2020, 149 million children under five were estimated to be stunted (too short for age), 45 million were estimated to be wasted (too thin for height), and 38.9 million were overweight or obese. About 45% of deaths among children below 5 years of age are linked to undernutrition.

What causes malnutrition in Uganda?

The causes of food insecurity in Uganda are multifaceted, often a result of poverty, landlessness, high fertility, natural disasters, high food prices, lack of education, and the fact that a majority of Ugandans depend on agriculture as a main source of income.

The European Union is currently funding UNICEF, through DINU project, to strengthen nutrition governance for improved nutrition outcomes for children and women in northern Uganda and West Nile.