Poor Hygyiene the lead cause of malnutrition in Karamoja region

The United Nations Children’s fund (UNICEF) in partnership with government have embarked on a campaign to screen children under five against malnutrition in the two districts of Moroto and Kaabongo.

This after the 2022 food security and nutrition assessment report classified children in the two districts to be suffering from a cute malnutrition standing at a prevalence rate of 21.9% Moroto and Kaabong at 19.6% respectively.

According to the Moroto District Nutrition Focal person Charles Onyango about 22,000 children in the 9 districts of Karamoja sub-region are suffering from a cute malnutrition a situation which has put the children’s life at stake.

The Zonal head of UNICEF offices in Karamoja region Rebecca Kwagala says the screening exercise kicks off on Thursday this week and as of last week 65 children had been admitted at the Moroto referral hospital.

According to the Food Security and Nutrition Assessment (FSNA) of 2021, fifty five percent (55%) of households in Karamoja had acceptable food consumption while 45% had insufficient/inadequate food consumption (Poor + Borderline FCS). Categorically, 8% had poor food consumption implying they were eating less than the required foods needed to live a productive and healthy life.

The most affected districts were Karenga, Kotido, Nabilatuk and Kaabong where, respectively, 63%, 60%, 56%, and 55% of the households were categorised to have both poor and borderline Food Consumption Score (FCS).

On the other hand, Amudat (92%) and Nakapiripirit (79%) had households with the highest proportion of households having acceptable food consumption.

She says Kaabong district loses 25 children every after three months due to acute malnutrition and stuntedness caused by hunger in the area of Karamoja.

Dr Nalibbe Sharif the Kaabong District Health Officer says 42% of the children in the district are malnourished which makes the number of child deaths high in the district.

He says that annually over 100 child deaths are reported but they are working closely with development agencies like UNICEF to work on the alarming situation.

In related developments authorities in Karamoja region are overwhelmed with the highest number of open defection in the region which stands at 52%.

According to the Director Moroto regional referral hospital Steven Pande, cases of open defection in the region are on the rise which has increased the cases of diarrhoea and malnutrition in the region due to poor hygiene

He notes a number of factors have contributed to malnutrition among children but diarrhoea stands out to be one of the factor that contributed to acute malnutrition in the region which account for 13% malnourished children in Karamoja region.

The recent FSNA of March 2021 indicates that Acute malnutrition prevalence in the Karamoja region is 10.7% with Kaabong (18.6%) and Moroto (14.2%) being most affected.

Underweight in the region, mostly as a result of inadequacy in food quantity and quality, is 29.1% with Kaabong (37.8%), Kotido (34%), Moroto (32.4%) and Karenga (32.8%) having the highest proportion of under 5s that are underweight.