GEDA Uganda conducts capacity building of VHTs and Health professionals on MIYCAN in Maliba S/C Kasese

Kasese is one of the Districts in Uganda with the highest burden of stunting amongst children under five years. The district is also ranked 3rd in Uganda and first in the Rwenzori Region with the highest prevalence of child marriages and teenage pregnancies (GoU,2022) (UNFPA, 2021) a situation that was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

A study conducted by GEDA Uganda in 2023 in Kasese District revealed that 56.4% of children born to teenage mothers were stunted with Maliba sub-county having the worst-case scenario. The study further highlighted that majority of the teenage mothers had limited or no sources of income and livelihood thus increasing their vulnerability to food insecurity and consequently food poverty.

A knowledge gap on Maternal infant and young child and adolescent health and nutrition was also indicated as a major risk factor to the high prevalence of stunting among the children born to the teenage mothers. In regards to the above, GEDA Uganda through a project “Better Nutrition for Children” in Maliba sub county supported by Foundation for Community Development (FCDE) and Fr.Roose Fonds organized a training to train members of the Village Health Teams (VHTs) and Health professionals working in the health centers in Maliba Subcounty in trying to address the knowledge gap.

The two categories of VHTs and health professionals were targeted for the training so that they have increased knowledge and skills on MIYCAN in order to support in cascading the same information to the teenage mothers and other older mothers through health and nutrition education whenever they come to the health centers to seek for health services such as Antenatal care (ANC), Young Child Clinics (YCC), Postnatal care (PNC) among others. Similarly, for the VHTs to be in position to support the mothers with the same information at community level during home visits and community meetings respectively.

The two days training that took place on 14th and 13th October 2024  at Maliba Town council hall attracted health professionals from Isule HC, Nyangorongo HC and Mukati Health center III, VHTs from Isule and Nyangorongo Parishes where the project is being implemented participated in the capacity building training too.

Speaking at the training GEDA’s Deputy Managing Director, emphasized the integrated approach of the project implementation and requested the participants to take keen interest in acquiring the knowledge during this training as this knowledge will be used by them in helping project beneficiaries the teenage mothers as well as the entire community. He said the objective of the training was to build their capacity in  MIYCAN, introduce the better nutrition for children under five project to them and seeking their support in the execution of the project and beyond.

GEDA’s Deputy MD addressing the health professionals.

He said GEDA was committed to continue supporting the communities but also fighting the teenage motherhood vice as this had continuously put the life of teenagers and their children at a bigger risk based on the research findings from the GEDA research.

He said 100 beneficiaries, teenage mothers and their children have been profiled and the roll out of other activities would commence shortly after the VHT/Health professionals training.

Flavia Kabugho the lead trainer took the participants through several sessions including but not limited to Introduction to nutrition, Integrating Nutrition Assessment, Counselling, and Support into Health Service Delivery, Intergenerational Cycle of Malnutrition among others.  The two days training was interactive and included a number of practical sessions on determining the nutrition status of an individual.

Flavia training the health workers

Several participants appreciated the training saying this was key for them and that they meet several scenarios in their communities and health facilities that needed the knowledge given to them.

Babirye Susan a senior clinical officer at Isule HCIII said “I appreciate the training because i was meeting same scenarios and experiences as shared with us today, this knowledge will help us serve our clients better”.

Practical session on determining the nutrition status of an individual.

GEDA Uganda will roll out in the coming days with meeting and training the teenage mothers that were profiled prior to this training.

GEDA Uganda launches a new project for Nutrition of under 5s in Kasese.

Kasese is one of the Districts in Uganda with the highest burden of stunting amongst children under five years and is ranked 3rd in Uganda and first in the Rwenzori sub Region with the highest prevalence of child marriages and teenage pregnancies (GoU, 2022) (UNFPA, 2021) a situation that was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. This presents a double burden.

 

Participants listen in during the Inception meeting presentation

In 2023, GEDA- Uganda conducted a scientific study on the factors associated with stunting for children aged 6-59 months born to teenage mothers in Kasese District. The study revealed that 56.4% of children born to teenage mothers were stunted. This is  far above the national and Rwenzori Regional Average stunting rates of 29% and 40.6 %( UDHS, 2016) respectively.

In trying to address these challenges, GEDA-Uganda proposed a nutrition intervention aimed at improving the nutrition status of children under five years born to teenage mothers in Kasese considering Maliba sub-county one of the scientific research target sub counties that came out to be leading with high prevalence of  teenage mothers as a pilot sub county.

Senior Nutritionist presenting issues of malnutrition and stuntedness at the inception.

Addressing different stakeholders at the sub county headquarters in Kabuyiri Maliba sub county during the project inception on Thursday 5th September 2024, GEDA’s senior nutritionist said that the stunting burden was high and thus there was need for different stakeholders to take action.

He further took participants through stunting and it’s effects for them to understand it better, it’s statistics around the globe for them (participants) to appreciate the magnitude of the problem at hand.

He later highlighted that the project being launched was going to be a pilot and has been set as a Parish Nutrition Modal (PNM) that would consider teenage mothers under the age of 18 lactating or pregnant. The project will also work closely with all stakeholders including the VHTs, Health centers staff, sub county leadership among others. Two parishes of Nyangorongo and Isule were given first priority.

Maliba Sub county Chairperson LC3 giving closing remarks

Speaking at the same meeting GEDA’s Managing Director Ms.Bihunirwa Medius  called upon parents to fight stuntedness and Malnutrition by feeding on balanced diet and further said there is a lot of work that ought to be done by Kasese District stakeholders based on the results that were shared.

The sub county Community Development officer reported increased teenage mothers in the parishes of Isule, Mubuku and Nyangorongo among others.

Closing the inception meeting, Mr. Robert Kiryamuthaka, the area local council three chairperson, concurred with the CDO but urged parents and guardians to invest in education of their children to avoid such scenarios of teenage pregnancies, stuntedness and malnutrition.

GEDA Uganda joins Kasese District in commemoration of Day of the African Child-DAC

The Day of the African Child serves as a platform to amplify children’s voices and condemn the violent acts committed against them.

Kasese RDC, Vice Chairperson LC5 and other officials celebrating with the Students during the commemoration.

Every year on June 16th, the world comes together to discuss the challenges and opportunities in fully realizing the rights of African children. This day traces its origins back to 1976 when students in Soweto, South Africa were assassinated for protesting against educational injustice and inequality. It serves as a powerful reminder to our communities to prioritize children’s needs, ensuring they grow and reach their full potential.

GEDA’s Deputy MD receiving a certificate of appreciation from the RDC Kasese during the commemoration.

This year’s theme was “Education for all children in Africa: the time is now“. Kasese District commemorated this day on the 31st July 2024 at the Kasese mult-purpose hall calling upon all stakeholders to listen to the young child, provide education and all necessary scholastic materials.

Several achools participated in this event speaking about the challenges they face and calling upon all stakeholders to come to their rescue if they must survivie and complete their education.

GEDA Uganda was among the several stakeholders and CSOs that supported and participated in this year’s event.

GEDA Uganda joins the world to commemorate the World Food Safety (WFSD) day.

It is estimated that about six hundred million  (600,000,000) people in the world get sick annually because they ate unsafe food. Out of this number 420,000 people die worldwide because the food they ate was unsafe.  This is about 7.5% of the world population that is about 8 Billion people.

To highlight the need for coordinated, global efforts to address food safety issues,  the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and the World Health Organization (WHO) initiated this day that was first commemorated on 7th June 2019. Since then every 7th June the World commemorates this day reflecting on the challenges of unsafe food to the globe.

This year’s commemoration was held under the theme “Prepare for the unexpected“.

It is against this background that GEDA Uganda together with her Partners Global Consumer Center (CONSENT) and Kasese District Local Government commemorated this day in Kasese District engaging several District stakeholders including among others the District political and technical wing, the Religious leaders from the Anglican faith, Catholic and Moslem community, Security both police and UPDF, the media (Guide radio, Messiah FM, Light FM, UBC Ngeya, New Vision and Daily monitor) since these are key with the kind of audience they access.

Kasese District is one of the Districts among others that have suffered the effects of different kinds of unsafe food that may be linked to several illnesses as highlighted prior. The issues of using rodent poison in post harvest handling, the famous “Nsanga meat” (rotten meat), the bony fish, drying maize and cassava on tarmac roads and other rudimentary PHH methods that have led to severe aflatoxins especially in maize.

GEDA Uganda and partners conducted a number of activities including radio talk shows, trainings of the above mentioned categories on food safety and nutrition, road drives within the markets in Kasese Municipality preaching the gospel of safe food.

speaking at the inauguration of the week long activities in Verina Gardens the Chairperson Kasese District Mr.Eriphazi Muhindi Bukombi appreciated the efforts of the partners in fighting the bad food handling practices which he said the District was behind these efforts and would continue to support such interventions. He appreciated the Hon. District Councilors and the entire technical wing that had spared the day to come and get trained in food safety and nutrition and asked them to be ambassadors of the food safety message to their electorate. He said the District had picked interest in this subject matter during the World Consumer day in March when CONSENT and her partner GEDA engaged them on issues of consumer rights, food safety among other important aspects of life.

Mr. Muhindi Eriphazi District Chairperson addressing participants at Verina Gardens in Kasese Municipality.

Facilitating at this inauguration training, the main Facilitator Mr. Bwambale Benard the head of programs at CONSENT emphasised the need for leaders to adhere to this message but also go ahead and preach the same because it would defeat logic for example why a number of leaders would speak about the same thing like Parish Development Model at a function and leave out key issues that directly affect the health and life of their people.  He advised them to take on division of roles, for example an LCI chairperson would speak about PDM, a councilor speaks about food safety and a Chairperson speaks about nutrition. This way different messages would be passed to the gathering easily.

Mr. Benard training District leaders political, technical and security on matters food safety

Benard took leaders into several engagements of food safety, nutrition and leaders at all levels appreciated the challenge at hand. Several leaders across board confessed having been victims of several issues for example not bothering about expiry dates on products, eating food cooked in polythene bags, misuse of agro-chemicals among others.

The team had a week long number of activities. Several participants pledged to be food safety ambassadors during their day to today engagements.

Religious leaders pose for a photo after a long day training at the Kasese Youth Center.

 

Training of Women at the Catholic Diocese of Kasese
Mr. Bwambale Benard and Yosia Baluku during a radio talkshow on food safety at Guide FM,

GEDA Uganda in high gears for World food safety day

World Food Safety Day was established by the United Nations General Assembly in December 2018. The day is observed annually on June 7th to raise awareness about the importance of food safety and to promote actions that help prevent, detect, and manage foodborne risks. The initiative was spearheaded by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO), recognizing that food safety is a shared responsibility that affects everyone in the food chain.

The first World Food Safety Day was celebrated on June 7, 2019, under the theme “Food Safety, Everyone’s Business.” This annual observance emphasizes the need for everyone to understand the role they play in ensuring that the food they consume is safe and that standards are upheld at every stage, from production to consumption.

The Rwenzori region where GEDA Uganda operates is characterized with several food safety challenges ranging from post harvest handling, misuse of agro-chemicals, food borne illnesses, Contamination (Biological, Chemical, or Physical), consumer perceptions and ignorance among others. One other key issue of concern is the “Sanga meat” (rotten/unhealth meat) that people consume without considering the negative consequences. Amidst the leadership interventions, there is still alot that needs to be done to completely stop such consumption of harmful meat.

In trying to mitigate these challenges GEDA Uganda has aligned a series of activities to commemorate this day in Kasese by engaging the Local leaders, consumers, media houses, religious institutions among others to create awareness but also challenge the different stakeholders to act.

The commemoration continues our campaign of unsafe foods in our communities ranging from expiry products, the “nsanga meat” phenomenon, use of rodent poison in food preservation among others and we believe engaging different stakeholders will have an impact and cause a mindset change in our communities.

 

Unsafe food linked to the rate of Children stunting in Kasese.

In Uganda, it’s estimated that 29% of children aged 6-59 months are stunted, 4% wasted and
11% underweight with the highest burden of stunting (40.6%) among children under five years
registered in the Tooro sub region(UBOS, 2016) where Kasese District is located. In addition,
Kasese District is battling with a high caseload of stunting among children aged 6-59 months at
44.9% way above the Tooro sub regional and National statistics (Enos Mirembe Masereka,
2020).
Stunting affects the physical and cognitive development of children affecting school
performance (UNICEF, 2023). Additionally, it compromises the child’s immunity increasing
their risks to infections as well as affecting the overall health and productivity of human beings
(WHO, 2020)(Worldbank, 2021).

Following this trend, Gender-Environment and Development Action conducted a research in Kasese District, particularly in Busongora North, one of the counties with the highest rate of teenage mothers to ascertain the stunting of Children aged 6-59 months born to teenage mothers. 337 teenage mothers from 36 villages of Maliba, Bugoye sub counties and Rugendabara and Kitswamba Sub-counties in Busongora North. The results showed that 56.4% of the children tested were stunted a very worrying number. Below is a summary of the findings;

75% of the teenage mothers had a caesarean  mode of delivery
– 41.2% of the children were born as preterm(before 9months)
– 78% of the mothers joined primary school
– 19% reached secondary school
– Only 3% had started some form of a course
– 91.9% were totally unemployed
– Only 3.9% earned atleast a wage
– 6.2% delivered from home supported by traditional  birth attendants(TBA)
– 69% earned/got not more than 50K Ugx in a month
– 47% had very poor food consumption  patterns including feeding on unsafe food.
Note: 56.4% of the children born to teenage  mothers were stunted with 38.6% a
moderately and 17.8% are severely stunted.
More details can be accessed HERE

As the world food safety day comes closer-6th June 2024, GEDA Uganda is mandated and will continue sensitizing the masses about the dangers of unsafe food, malnutrition and do what it can to change the status quo in our communities.

GEDA Uganda and her partner CONSENT commemorate World consumer day in Kasese

Consumers are drivers of the economy as they have the power to influence the quality of goods
and services provided by different actors including government, business/private sector, Civil
Society Organizations and other relevant entities. The consumers’ influence however can only be
felt if they understand and utilize their rights and responsibilities. In order to strengthen the
empowerment of consumers on their rights and responsibilities as well as other consumer
protection issues, the entire world commemorates the World Consumer Rights Day (WCRD)
every 15th March annually reflecting on different themes.

According to the Ministry of Health (MoH,2023), Food borne illnesses resulting from food safety
concerns are currently responsible for about 14% of the total disease burden in Uganda. Similarly
numerous food safety concerns have been reported in Kasese District over the past few years.
On the other hand the Uganda demographic health survey (UDHS, 2016) indicated that 40.6% of
the children under the age of five years in the Tooro region where Kasese District lies are stunted
amidst plenty of food production. Another study conducted in Kasese in 2023, indicated that 56%
of children under the age of five years borne to teenage mothers were stunted (Bwambale, 2023).

In regards to the above, GEDA Uganda together with her partners CONSENT and (Food Safety Coalition Uganda decided to launch a food safety, nutrition and consumer protection sensitization
campaign in Kasese leveraging on the WCRD events. In this campaign GEDA and partners targeted
the media fraternity comprised of journalists from different media houses and Masters of
Ceremonies (MCs) resident in Kasese Municipality and District. Targeting the media was meant
to empower the media team to ably cascade the same message to the rest of the community
members given their day to day engagements with the masses on radios, Televisions (TVs),
newspapers and at functions such as weddings, parties and funerals among others. Similarly,
targeting the media was to ensure increased advocacy for safer food and consumer protection
using the available media channels.

A number of topics ranging from consumer rights and responsibilities, food safety, nutrition,
comparative testing and consumer complaints’ mechanism were presented and discussed during
the media engagement.

Participants giving their comments during the training.

 Consumer rights and Responsibilities
As part of the commemoration of the WCRD, the participants were explicitly taken through the
8 consumer rights and 5 consumer responsibilities. This was meant to empower the media team
with more knowledge on the rights and responsibilities of the consumers to guarantee their
protection and safety.

During the engagement a number o f recommendations were given such as;

  • The participants recommended that GEDA and CONSENT considers working with their radio
    listeners’ clubs that have over 2000 members across the region so as to effectively
    disseminate the information further.
  • They also recommended that CONSENT engages the radio owners on the subject of
    food safety, nutrition and consumer rights and responsibilities to ensure that radio
    programs are designed specifically to tackle issues of food and consumer protection
  • The radio presenters asked for support from CONSENT so that they can also run live
    broadcasts/pops in different areas on such days like world consumer rights day, world
    food safety day, world standards day and world food day among others.
  • The media team urged CONSENT to actively and closely work in partnership with the
    local government leaders, local CBOs/Organizations, religious and cultural institutions
    to disseminate the food safety information and consumer empowerment.

 

A number of commitments were registered;

  • The participants committed to be ambassadors of food safety, nutrition and consumer
    rights and responsibilities during their day to day life at their household and community
    levels.
  • The media personalities committed to popularize the message on food safety, nutrition
    and consumer protection during their different radio programs
  • The journalists committed to frequently report food safety, nutrition and consumer
    rights issues in their news bulletins so as to foster joint advocacy and awareness
  • The MCs also committed to front the awareness campaign on food safety and nutrition
    during the different functions including funerals, parties and any other functions that
    they officiate
  • The media and MCs fraternity jointly committed to team up and support CONSENT
    through the project implementation process whenever called upon for any engagement
    and support.

 

GEDA’s Baluku Yosia selected for the 2023 GE’DA fellowship program cohort 5.

The good news email was received with excitement at Gender-Environment and Development Action’s secretariat that was confirming our own Mr. Baluku Yosia as a member of the cohort 5 fellowship.

GE’DA, which means ‘Together Build’ is a 3 months intensive training that focuses on building the technical expertise, cross-cultural bridges and designing solutions to transform communities across Africa and building the Africa we want.

Mr. Yosia informed the secretariat that this program has already started and will run for the next 3 months where he will be connecting and networking with over seventy leading change advocates that were selected by Donors For Africa (DFA) the sponsors of this program from economic, political, arts, social change, media and Educational leaders drawn from close to 1,300 applications from over 30 African countries.

He further added that it was a very competitive process and therefore wasn’t taking it for granted being part of the 5th cohort for this program. Yosia said this program model is designed from a proven  African technical curriculum that addresses the African continent’s unique challenges, opportunities, and needs while leveraging on global expertise and technology to drive positive social change.

Yosia thanked Donors For Africa for having considered him and the organisation to be part of this prestigious 3 months session and said it won’t leave him the same but rather improve his capacity of handling issues at Gender-Environment and Development to better serve the communities.

GEDA Uganda joins Kasese District and other partners in commemorating the international menstrual hygiene day

Menstrual Hygiene Day (MHD, MH Day in short) is an annual awareness day on May 28 to highlight the importance of good menstrual hygiene management (MHM) at a global level.

In developing countries, women’s choices of menstrual hygiene materials are often limited by the costs, availability and social norms.

Adequate sanitation facilities and access to feminine hygiene products are important but opening discussion making adequate education for women and girls is of equal importance. Research has found that not having access to menstrual hygiene management products can keep girls home from school during their period each month.

Therefore Menstrual Hygiene Day is an occasion for publicizing information in the media, including social media, organized gatherings and to engage decision-makers in policy dialogue. The day aims to advocate for the integration of menstrual hygiene management into global, national and local policies and programs.

More specifically MH day;

  • breaks the silence, raises awareness and changes negative social norms around MHH, and
  • engages decision-makers to increase the political priority and catalyse action for MHH, at global, national and local levels.

MH Day has grown tremendously since it was first celebrated in 2014

In emulating the same objective Kasese District and her development partners commemorated the day on 21st July 2023 at Ngaiga Primary School, in Maliba Town council-Kasese District under the global theme “Making menstruation a normal fact of life by 2030”.

A highly attended event that commenced with a band around the Town council had several primary and secondary schools’ students and teachers including parents and several stakeholders.

Kick off of the event with an awareness band.

Performance after performance, presentation after the other clearly communicated the awareness about menstrual hygiene and the reason why it is necessary to create awareness if girls must stay in school.

Speaking at the function the team leader at Save the Children Kasese field office highlighted that Girls lose 10% of their time during menstruation time as revealed by a research conducted by SNV, he challenged partners to do more research and prioritize MH in their programming.

The chief guest of the function the Kasese District Woman MP, Hon.Kabugho Florence appreciated the District and Partners for having organized the function and asked that this should be a continuous engagement since it’s a normal thing that Government and partners should continue addressing.

She emphasized the hands on skills trainings for the make of reusable sanitary pads at schools so as to help them, Providing Wash rooms at schools specifically for this purpose since this was one of the biggest issues reported from schools reports. Hon. Florence also promised that as Women Parliamentarians, they are trying to find ways of providing sanitary pads freely to girls. She wondered why condoms were provided freely even when sex is a choice unlike menstruation.

Hon. Woman MP and Chief guest addressing citizens.

She also warned some men who are raping their very own children to stop that very dangerous that was being reported in some areas. The Hon. Chief guest encouraged students to continue studying irrespective of their schools and also Requested the District Education office to consider having more female teachers in schools that have less on non  to help girls during their period days.

The Hon. MP led the District and partners in signing a charter that read as follows;

 

Honourable Member of Parliament Kabugho Florence signing the charter. Several other partners and the District leadership signed this charter and committed to follow the contents therein to the dot.

Gender-Environment and Development Action committed too to the charter as this is also very key in our programming as an institution.

Partners also contributed items including sanitary pads and nickers that were distributed to the schools in attendance. The items were handed over to the District Education department by the Hon. Chief guest.

 

Commemorating World Food Safety Day

Access to sufficient amounts of safe food is key to sustaining life and promoting good health. Foodborne illnesses are usually infectious or toxic in nature and often invisible to the plain eye, caused by bacteria, viruses, parasites or chemical substances entering the body through contaminated food or water.

Food safety has a critical role in assuring that food stays safe at every stage of the food chain – from production to harvest, processing, storage, distribution, all the way to preparation and consumption.

According to World Health Organisation (WHO),1 600 000 people get sick due to unsafe food in one day, on average, 340 Children under 5 years of age die due to preventable food borne diseases, on average, every day and 200 Diseases are caused by unsafe food, ranging from diarrhea to cancers.

We commemorate this year’s  day with a theme “Food standards Saves Lives”
At GEDA Uganda we contribute towards consumer empowerment through awareness raising on optimal  food safety and consumer rights.
We are cognizant of the  fact that when it’s not safe then it’s not food”.
We are committed to empowering consumers to make right choices of their food choices.
We are also reminding  each one of us that  there is no food and nutrition security without food safety.
We call upon community members to embrace optimal food handling practice for safer food.
Bwambale Benard
Food systems and Health -GEDA Uganda.
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