Statistics from the Outpatient Department at Arua Regional Referral Hospital reveal an upward trend in cases of Severe Acute Malnutrition among children. Specifically, the cases increased from 173 in 2020/2021 to 199 in 2021/2022 and 301 in 2022/2023. In 2023/2024, there were 254 cases registered.
At least 130 mothers in Arua District have received training in savings and backyard gardening as part of efforts to combat malnutrition in their families. Malnutrition, as defined by the World Health Organization (WHO), refers to a deficiency, excess, or imbalance in a person’s energy intake and nutrient consumption.
In Uganda, malnutrition remains a significant public health issue, affecting an estimated 268,000 children. In the West Nile sub-region, the situation is further exacerbated by the influx of refugees and cross-border movements, which complicate the delivery of health services and intensify the malnutrition crisis.
Statistics from the Outpatient Department at Arua Regional Referral Hospital reveal an upward trend in cases of Severe Acute Malnutrition among children. Specifically, the cases increased from 173 in 2020/2021 to 199 in
2021/2022 and 301 in 2022/2023. In 2023/2024, there were 254 cases registered.
Consequently, the demand for ready-to-use therapeutic foods increased from 249
in the 2019/2020 financial year, to 166,800 in 2023/2024. Because of
the high cases of malnutrition in West Nile, the office of the prime Minister
in 2021 launched the Nutri-cash project to help children under two years,
expectant and breastfeeding mothers in West Nile with Shillings 48,000 monthly to
boost their nutrition needs.
The Nutri-cash is part of the Child Sensitive
Protection Program funded by Sweden, and implemented by the World Food Program
and the United Nations Children’s Fund, in collaboration with, OPM, and the
Ministry of Gender, Labor, and Social Development.
Rashida
Musema, a 24-year-old mother, said she dropped out of school when she was 18
years old, not because she lacked school fees, but because she felt she could
start her own family. Musema said,
a year into her marriage, she found herself trapped in a circle of financial
challenges, because she did not have a source of income. It was not until
four years later that she was enrolled in the Nutri-cash project because she
was pregnant, and her financial status improved.
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As part of
the capacity building of the beneficiaries of the nutri-cash project, the
mothers were trained on how to use the Mid-Upper Arm Circumference MUAC) tapes,
to detect malnutrition symptoms early and get timely diagnosis and management.
Musema, who
is a lead mother in her nutri-cash group, said she was given the MUAC tape,
which she uses to help other women in the group detect malnutrition.
She argues
that the initiative has improved the livelihood of the women in the group, and
those outside because she uses her knowledge to help them identify signs of
malnutrition in their children, and recommended feeding practices and hygiene.
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Jackie
Linyaru, a 28-year-old mother of two, said because of the Nutri-cash project,
her produce business, which was doing badly, is now stable. Linyaru,
being in a savings group, now saves Shiillings 6,000 weekly, something she couldn't do before. She has bought livestock, which she is keeping, and can pay
her two children to school. Besides, she has grown beans, maize and, sorghum.
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Jimmy Ali,
an assistant Chief Administrative Officer in Arua District, commended the
development partners that empowered the women in backyard gardening, saying the
district did not have a budget to fund the project against malnutrition.
The
prevalence of malnutrition in Arua is 27 percent, above the national average of
25 percent.
According to
Ali, one of the reasons for the high prevalence of malnutrition is that there
are more than 3,000 teenage mothers, who are always facing challenges in
providing good nutrition to their children because they are in unstable
families and without income.
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Ali urged
the women to not only focus on growing vegetables but also use their savings to buy
and keep livestock so that they have many sources of income. Francis Tibanduka, in the Expanding Social Protection Program, Ministry of Gender Labor
and Social Development, encouraged the women to continue using the little land
they have to grow food for their households, saying food security is the
foundation of other securities in a home.
Tibanduka
advised the women to use the power of their groups to benefit from other
government programs such as the Women Entrepreneurship Program, Youth
Livelihood Program, and Parish Development Model.
“If you are
a beneficiary of Nutri Cash, it does not stop you from being a beneficiary of
the Women's Entrepreneurship Program,” Tibanduka said.
Swaib Toko,
the RDC of Arua, said it makes no sense that people who have land still go to
the market to buy food items such as tomatoes, eggplants, and vegetables when
they can grow them in their backyard.
Toko also
advised women against selling all food items and not feeding well.
“When you
feed very well, you produce very healthy children, who are easy to educate
because they understand very fast. For your information, for a child to grow up
very well at a certain age needs a lot of food,” Toko said.
As the Nutri-cash
project ends this year, Toko appealed to lead mothers to share the knowledge
they have acquired in promoting this program with other people who are not beneficiaries.
