Rescue a Malnourished Rural Child in Uganda

Background:

Despite its agricultural potential and significant agricultural exports, Uganda’s food insecurity levels remain classified as ‘serious’ by the 2018 Global Hunger Index. The northern and eastern parts of the country are most vulnerable to food insecurity and malnutrition. In some areas, stunting and wasting reach 40 and 20 percent, respectively. Uganda is the third largest refugee hosting country in the world with 1.1 million refugees living in settlements. Studies estimate that the prevalence of food insecurity to be 90 percent in the refugee population.

APPCO’s operations in Uganda are guided by the strategic plan which stipulates clearly on the areas of work which is aligned to National Development Plan II and Vision 2040 towards the achievement of sustainable development goals 2 and 17. Through this project, APPCO in this reporting period addresses root causes of food insecurity and malnutrition, supports the refugee response and strengthens social protection systems. APPCO assistance is provided through direct implementation, evidence generation, knowledge sharing and capacity strengthening, while building strategic partnerships.

Progress toward reduced malnutrition:

In this reporting period APPCO has been able to create awareness in communities about feeding practices especially for breast feeding mothers and children. 910 (280male 630female) actively participated in the community sensistation meetings held where 12 demonstrations on good feeding were done with leadership of women.

Training of child mobilisers in nutrition and monitoring:

A toal of 20 female community child monitors were identifed and trained in nutrition feeding guidelines accoridng to ministry of health. A 5 day training which was practical within the community was facilited by nutrition expert on key topical areas.