46 per cent of Kalangala children malnourished, says new report

What you need to know:

  • Situation. The report indicates that up to 21 per cent of the children live in families with absolute poverty.

KALANGALA. A new Information and Research Centre survey has discovered that 46 per cent of children aged between six and 19 years in the Island district of Kalangala are malnourished.
Among the diseases the report mentions, which are a result of lack of a balanced diet in the children’s daily meals, include; Kwashiorkor, marasmus and several skin infections.
The report, which was launched at Information and Research Centre offices in Kalangala Town recently, indicates that up to 21 per cent of the said children live in families with absolute poverty, many of which cannot afford a meal a day.
These children visibly look emaciated, with pale and wrinkled skins, sunken eyes and scanty hair that bears a golden brown type, according to the report.
Kalangala is an island district with 84 islands and 92 gazetted landing sites. The major economic activity on the islands is fishing. Other sources of income include farming with a host of Kalangala’s population engaged in palm oil production.
However, many of the islanders remain unemployed due to the depleted fish stocks in Lake Victoria. Majority have resorted to cutting down forests for rice growing.
The report indicates that some of the people who fail to get food have now resorted to eating palm oil fruits as daily meals.
“We, researchers, noticed that several young children have always been given palm oil fruits to take to school for feeding yet the fruits are not rich in all food values for a balanced diet. This leaves the children malnourished and later infected with several diseases related to bad nutrition,” the report reads in part.
While launching the report, Mr Richard Odur, the coordinator at Information and Research Centre, said the survey that covered 54 of the 92 major landing sites in Kalangala, focused on how children in the Island district are fed.
“Our focus was to mainly find solutions to the many island children who live in areas that are not easily accessible and rarely get food from the main land,” Mr Odur said.
Kalangala’s Geographical set up is mainly by rocks, this creates limited land for the people in the area to practice meaningful farming. However, the limited arable land has been mainly used for settlement.
This leaves the district with a shortage of food. Also, cases of malnutrition in the district have increased.
Kalangala District in collaboration with Heifer International and other partners, started distributing yogurt to different children to supplement children’s diet.
According to Mr Daniel Mbaziira, the programme officer at Heifer International, the nationwide project is aimed at meeting the International goals on curbing the rate of malnutrition in low developing countries.
“Yoghurt would help in the improvement of diet, especially to the young children. Our initiative is aimed at having a healthy society that would fight for transformation,” he said.
The Kalangala District health officer, Dr Hillary Bitakaramire, wondered why parents fail to provide their children with a balanced diet yet they can spend on alcohol.

Palm oil fruits
A report by the Kalangala District Education Forum in December 2016 indicated that several parents in the district had resorted to feeding children on palm oil fruits, which left many school-going pupils malnourished.
This prompted Action Aid Uganda, a local NGO, to fund a programme that helped different schools in the district get several gardens and cows that would provide enough food and milk for the children.
However, only a few schools adopted the project while many asked parents to pack food for their children.
According to Mr Henry Kizito, the coordinator of Kalangala Forum for People Living with HIV/ Aids Network, failure to provide a balanced diet has stifled their efforts to care for children in primary and secondary schools who are living with HIV/Aids.
“Such children need special attention and this call for special meals, which we can’t provide regularly. When children are malnourished and at the same time living with HIV, it becomes very difficult for them to take their daily drugs,” Mr Kizito said.