Japan injects $600,000 in malnutrition fight in Karamoja

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The Japanese government has through the World Food Program WFP donated US$600,000 (Shillings 2,231,378,400) to Uganda to boost nutrition and prevent infant and maternal mortality in Karamoja region. WFP Country Director, El-Khidir Dloum handed over the donation to Karamoja Affairs Minister, John Byabagambi at their offices in Kampala on Tuesday.

Daloum revealed that Japan has contributed a total of US$15.5 million including the latest support towards the fight against malnutrition in Uganda. He said Japan’s support will be used to provide 244 metric tons of enriched foods to 26,000 children under five years- of age, pregnant women and new mothers in Moroto and Napak districts for at least three months to stop overall malnutrition levels from increasing.

An integrated food security phase classification assessment conducted by WFP and its partners, between February and August 2020 discovered that life-threatening malnutrition rates were above emergency levels in Moroto and Napak district.

Daloum says Japan’s donation is part of the overall efforts by the Ugandan government to address the impact of locust invasion, which worsened the problem of food insecurity in the region. Receiving the donation on behalf of the Ugandan Government, Byabagambi said Japan has joined other partners like South Korea who earlier on donated US$300,000.

He explained that malnutrition levels in the country shot up because of the Covid-19 pandemic because many people stopped working and attending to their farms. He says the donation will provide nutritious food to over 26,000 people in Napak and Moroto for three months and called for more support from development partners so as to extend help to other districts in the region.