News coming in show that, various Members of Parliament on Uganda Parliamentary Alliance on Food and Nutrition Security have urged residents in Kamwenge district to intensify efforts of fighting malnutrition. This effort comes in after a survey that was placed in Kamwenge as the district with the second-highest number of malnutrition cases in Uganda.
It should be known that, between 2013 and 2015, it is estimated that more than 500,000 young Ugandan children died and of these deaths reported, nearly half were associated with undernutrition according to a UNICEF Uganda Annual Report 2019.
These lawmakers appealed on Monday, May 27, 2024 while addressing residents at Biguri Town Council during the assessment of the burden of malnutrition in the area, ahead of the commemoration of the International Day for Nutrition, that was held in Kamwenge district on 28th May 2024.
A one Susan Abeja, the Otuke District Woman Representative attributed the high malnutrition cases in Kamwenge on gender inequality and domestic violence where sell the food grown by women is rampant by their husbands leaving their women to grapple with the burden of feeding their families.
“We thank God for the enough rain in Kamwenge district, fertile land, and enough food. I am from a district that when you walk into somebody’s family, you can shed tears. Tell men in Kamwenge that they should allow their women to hold responsibility in their families, they should stop selling food out of their women’s houses” said Abeja.
On the other hand, Joel Leku Terego West MP thanked Kamwenge residents for working towards fighting cases of malnutrition. And informed that where he comes from in Terego, almost everyone is malnourished.
“When we moved around we saw two people who are malnourished. When you come to Terego where I come from, almost everybody is malnourished. I have lost the vision of Kamwenge being malnourished because I didn’t see malnourished people here” stated Leku.
Joel Sebikali Ntwentwe County MP said that the people in Kamwenge should be included in the discussions to eradicating malnutrition for sustainable results. Adding that groups will be created to discuss this so that the district is helped.
“We know that Kamwenge has ample varieties of food and we are looking at that information, I dont know why are you ranked number two in the country as a district having malnutrition. We are going to create those groups and they discuss why and they bring way forward” Sebikali chirped.
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It should more so be noted that, Uganda is among the countries in East Africa with high levels of undernutrition whereby about 29 percent or 3 in 10 children below 5 years of age are stunted while about 3.5% of all children below 5 years of age in Uganda are faced with body wasting.
