Food and Nutrition Situation in a Resource Limited Country – A Literature Review of the Last Decade in Uganda

Abstract

Uganda is ranked among the high malnutrition burdened countries. Two successive Demographic and Health Surveys (UDHS) in 2006 and 2011 revealed that malnutrition affects atleast one of every five persons in the population. This paper has used literature review techniques to comprehend the situation of food and nutrition security in Uganda. The analysis has taken into account DHS results, food insecurity reports, cost of hunger studies and nutrition profiles reports with complementation from other published literature related to food and nutrition security in Uganda. From the analysis of 28 publications cited by this study, it is apparent that malnutrition remains to be a persistent problem in the country. Childhood stunting, a devastating indicator of chronic malnutrition, affects 33% of children aged 6-59 months while an estimated 26% of the population is at risk of undernourishment due to food insecurity. Despite the absence of reliable estimates on micronutrient deficiencies, anaemia and vitamin A deficiency are a challenge among some of the vulnerable population groups. Within the last decade, Vitamin A deficiency is estimated to have affected over a quarter of children and women of reproductive age, while anaemia affects about 5 of every 10 children aged 6-59 months and about 1 in 4 of women of reproductive age. Malnutrition and related deprivation have been associated with failure to ensure adequate dietary intake in infancy and childhood, inadequate intake of especially animal sourced foods, poor micronutrient intake, and socioeconomic constraints on the household among others. Moreover, the costs of malnutrition on the economy are an apparent latent challenge as an estimated 5% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is being lost due to combined effects of stunting and other consequences of undernutrition. It is of the essence that nutrition specific and nutrition sensitive interventions are financed as strategic national development investments given the implications of nutrition on sustainable human and economic development.