BUGWERI DISTRICT: According to the survey on household mapping on food, nutrition and wash practices that was conducted by Wilmat Development Foundation with support from the Movement for Community Led Development Uganda Chapter through the Right2Grow consortium in Mayuge district Eastern Uganda. It indicated that under nutrition still remains a significant public health treat that requires both WASH and nutrition interventions. Globally, undernutrition is an underlying cause of 45% child deaths and the lives of nearly 7.4% of the world’s children are at immediate risk due to severe wasting (low weight for height). In addition, children suffering from malnutrition are likely to have a weak immune system and increasing the susceptibility of the body to infections. Another effect is the impaired human function at all stages of life and reduced life expectancy. There is also nutrient deficiency which is also caused by malnutrition.


The people of Mayuge district are facing a few challenges that are likely to be the main causes of malnutrition for example limited land for planting their crops is one of the challenge and this is because most of the land is owned by household heads only and their spouses. The decision of whether to plant crops or not is made by them leaving out those without enough land with no say. Another problem faced was lack of food storage facilities in some households which led to starvation. The survey discovered that 76.5% of the people in some areas of Mayuge owned storage facilities while 23.5% didn’t own one. There were also some households that owned temporary storage facilities that are prone to food wastage through bad weather whereas others owned permanent storage facilities. Last but not least were the very poor feeding habits that are existent amongst people with disabilities because they receive little attention from their caretakers.


In conclusion, some of the possible ways in which the people of Mayuge district can solve the problem of malnutrition include having permanent food storage facilities in every household for preserving food stuffs after harvests and for future use, eating a healthy balanced diet containing the food values such as proteins, carbohydrates and vitamins, adaptation of good feeding habits.