How refugees, host communities are fighting malnutrition among children

How refugees, host communities are fighting malnutrition among children

By Aluma Aribo

Koboko. Though acute malnutrition remains among the life threatening forms of malnutrition among refugee settlements in Uganda, the situation has forced the refugees and host communities to devise strategies to address the challenge.

The new strategies also come at a time when World Food Program (WFP), the UN agency responsible for food distribution to refugees has halved food it has been distributing to refugees.

Waju refugee settlement in Lobule Sub County is host to 6000 majority of them from the DRC.

Clara Adia, a refugee from Democratic Republic of Congo and a resident of Waju I in Lobule sub county, Koboko district said partners have given them enough knowledge, some of which they are now practicing.

“With the knowledge they have given us from the facility level, from the modular trainings, we now have experience of kitchen gardening, if you do not have money, you will harvest your things which is in in the kitchen garden and take to the market and buy what you lack like things of balancing diet.”

She however appealed to the donor community to raise the monthly cash support they are receiving back to shs 31,000 from shs 14, 000 to have a meaningful impact in their lives so that when they are repatriated, they will have a good start. She said hiring land from the host community was also becoming a challenge.

While Isha Laila, from Borokolongo village in Lobule appreciated the technologies introduced to them had helped them greatly.

“My daughter abandoned a 3 month-old baby with me. When I observed signs of malnutrition, I decided to bring her at Pijoke health centre III where I have learnt how to take care of the child with food supplements.”

Emmanuel Cwinya’i, a clinical officer and assistant in charge of Pijoke health centre III said they enroll 5 new cases of malnutrition every month at the facility.

He said the majority of children suffering from malnutrition are those abandoned by teenage mothers where their grandmothers cannot take good care of them and lack of food in families where they cannot afford 3 meals in a day.

The head of World Food Program in Arua which oversees refugees food operations in the area, Cyridion Usengumuremyi, said: “We have shifted together from assisting refugees based on refugee status alone towards relative vulnerability of the person from most to least vulnerable.”

He said the current assistance given to the refugees is based on a study which was carried out and agreed upon by all partners.

The French ambassador to Uganda, Xavier Sticker, in a recent visit to a refugee settlement in Lobule said his visit was to show commitment to fight against malnutrition globally and to show activities that they also have.

France will be the host of a major summit dedicated to malnutrition in March 2025. It will also be an occasion for the country to showcase innovative solutions to support communities, refugees and host communities to emerge from the stage of emergency for severe malnutrition to a sustainable livelihood.