Poor diets, chronic food shortages, poor sanitation and high levels of diarrhoea and malaria were cited as major contributors to the situation. High workloads for mothers and therefore reduced time for breastfeeding and other childcare were also cited as driving malnutrition.
The Japanese government has donated USD 600,000 (2.2 billion Shillings ) to boost nutrition
and prevent infant and maternal mortality in the Karamoja region. The money was channelled through the World Food Program-
WFP.
Karamoja
already has high rates of stunting, where children are short for their
age, low on immunity and often mentally impaired. Over 35 percent of
children
aged under five in the region are stunted. An integrated food security phase classification assessment
conducted by WFP and its partners, between February and August 2020 discovered
that life-threatening malnutrition rates were above emergency levels in Moroto
and Napak district.
Poor
diets, chronic food shortages, poor sanitation and high levels of
diarrhoea and malaria were cited as major contributors to the situation.
High workloads for mothers and therefore
reduced time for breastfeeding and other childcare were also cited as
driving malnutrition.According to the World Food Programme, such high rates of
life-threatening and acute malnutrition combined with stunting put the
futures of children at stake.
WFP Country Director,
El-Khidir Daloum, who handed over the donation to Karamoja Affairs Minister Eng. John
Byabagambi said
that combined
with other contributions, Japan’s funding will provide 244 metric tons
of enriched foods to 26,000 children aged under five, pregnant women and
new mothers in the worst-hit Moroto and Napak Districts for at least
three months.
WFP says that pregnant
and nursing women need more nutrients including minerals and vitamins
than other women because of changes in their bodies. Malnourished
children also have a greater
need for nutrients and are more likely to fall sick because of reduced
immunity and are at higher risk of death.
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Karamoja Affairs Minister John Byabagambi
said Japan has joined other partners like South Korea who earlier on donated
USD 300,000. He explained that malnutrition levels in the country shot up
because of the COVID19 pandemic because many people stopped working and
attending to their farms.
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He says the donation will provide nutritious food to over 26,000
people in Napak and Moroto for three months and called for more support from
development partners so as to extend help to other districts in the region.
Kasirye Ashraf Saif-llah
Freelancer