Uganda: The number of cases of people suffering from severe acute malnutrition in refugee settlements increases

ROME – According to data collected from various health facilities and service points supported by the International Red Cross almost 6,300 cases of severe acute malnutrition were treated in 2021, while in 2022 the figure exceeded 9,300. Most of the interventions concern children and women. Over two thousand cases have already been registered in the first quarter of 2023 alone.

malnutrition data. Also, according to the CPI Acute Malnutrition Analysis 2022 (Integrated Food Security Phase Classification), 36,590 children between the ages of 6 and 59 months across all refugee settlements suffered from acute malnutrition and required treatment between February 2022 and January 2023. Over four thousand pregnant and breastfeeding women between the refugee population are suffering from acute malnutrition and have needed treatment in the same period.

Poor diet and disease. According to field food security analyses, the causes of this surge in severe acute malnutrition among women and children depend on a combination of factors. First of all, the diet, especially of the youngest, is too poor: only 8.5 percent manage to eat in an acceptable manner. And then diseases such as malaria and acute respiratory infections are spreading: more than 75 percent of children living in refugee settlements have fallen ill.

History. Susan, mother of a one-year-old boy being treated for acute malnutrition at one of the structures supported by the International Red Cross, said she was unable to breastfeed her son because he did not eat enough and therefore did not have enough milk. Now the little one is ill, also because there was not enough powdered milk available to satisfy the need.

Food rationing. The World Food Programme (WFP-WFP) due to less funding, has had to cut food rations, which now barely meet 70 per cent of the needs of refugee families in Uganda. Rationing started in 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic hit, and got worse with the war in Ukraine. Today, households receive between 26 and 48 percent of the food they need on a daily basis, with a strong impact on food diversification. Refugees face a series of collateral and no less important difficulties: they are unable to have lands to cultivate in order to be autonomous and in this portion of the world climate change is making things even worse. At the same time, with an overloaded health system, we are unable to cope with the numerous cases of malaria, acute diarrhea, pneumonia and the new epidemics of measles and mumps.

The position of the International Red Cross. For Elijah Okeyo, the organization’s country director in Uganda, the current situation in Uganda’s refugee settlements paints a bleak picture. There is a lack of funds to finance the provision of health and nutrition services and there is a lack of money for the improvement of agriculture, which today should be adapted to the climate. To treat malnourished children, a few solutions are enough: ready-to-use therapeutic foods or even a paste strengthened with peanut butter. Data show that children who are able to receive these treatments recover in a few weeks. Yet globally, 80 percent of children suffering from severe acute malnutrition cannot access this type of care.

Data on refugees in Uganda. The country hosts over 1.4 million refugees, including more than 860,000 children according to UNHCR data as of January 2023. Uganda is continuously welcoming new arrivals from South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. More than 86,000 people have recently arrived and have been forced to settle in areas without basic infrastructure, without shelter or basic health services.