Survey reveals Kamwenge district has second highest malnutrition cases

MPs on Uganda Parliamentary Alliance on Food & Nutrition Security) urged residents in Kamwenge district to intensify efforts to fight malnutrition, after a survey placed Kamwenge as the district with the second-highest number of malnutrition cases in Uganda.

The lawmakers appealed while addressing residents at Biguri Town Council during the assessment of the burden of malnutrition in Kamwenge district, ahead of the commemoration of the International Day for Nutrition, which will be held in Kamwenge district on 28th May 2024.

Susan Abeja the Otuke District Woman Representative attributed the high malnutrition cases in Kamwenge to gender inequality and domestic violence where the food grown by women, leaves the women to grapple with the burden of feeding their families.

“We should thank God for the gift of enough rain in Kamwenge, fertile land, and enough food. I am from a district where 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, and sensitize them. Otherwise, this wouldn’t be the reason for this Malnutrition pandemic in Kamwenge,” she said.

She called upon police to penalize men who beat and violated women and their families.

The Terego West MP Joel Leku thanked Kamwenge residents for working towards reducing cases of malnutrition.

“When we moved around, we only saw two people who were 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. In Terego, it’s hard to find a family with an acre. I have 7 sub-counties, and 4 of them don’t have land at all. But then here, we are looking for malnourished children where they have acres of land,” he said.

He further added, “But nutrition is across the country and I am sure it goes with poverty index levels and Kamwenge isn’t one of the poorest districts in the country because I see everybody has something to sell. The only problem is, they sell it all, that’s what we need to fight for.”

“We know that Kamwenge has ample varieties of food and we are looking at that information, 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 bring a way forward. We MPs, however much we have the information, but when we bring it to you when it hasn’t originated from you, there is no way we can implement it. Because you know the root causes, you know how to go about them,” said Joel Sebikali (Ntwentwe County)