Improving Nutrition in Rural Uganda

Aim: This 12 month project aims at improving the nutrition, health and livelihoods of vulnerable and marginalised families through food security and nutrition education.

The poorest of the poor in Kanungu district in Uganda have been left out in almost all community development programs. Characterised by poor health, inadequate housing, insufficient nutrition and isolation from community projects, these families spend their entire time and energy trying to acquire enough food for one meal per day so have no time to think about other aspects of life like health and education.

Bwindi Community Hospital (BCH) is a private, not-for-profit hospital, caring for a local population of about 120,000 people in three sub-counties. It has a robust community health program engaging village health teams (VHTs) in the communities to provide public health education and monitor the health of expectant mothers and under-five children.

This project leverages the wealth of knowledge and experience of the hospital gained from their implementation of successful community health programmes to build capacity of the poorest families to improve their lives through food production, increased food security and nutrition. The project uses linkages between health service delivery, community outreach and nutrition and dietetics programmes to address immediate nutritional needs and long term food security for the most vulnerable families in the hospital’s catchment area through a comprehensive agriculture and nutrition training programme. The expected results will include better knowledge and skills in vegetable growing, good nutrition and food security and possible improved household incomes among the beneficiary families.

Location: Kanungu, western Uganda

Local Partners:  Bwindi Community Hospital, Buhoma, Uganda

Beneficiaries: 1,575 beneficiaries from 45 villages (five of the poorest families from each village). Predominant beneficiaries are from the Batwa ethnic group.

Photos from the field: