Reuters AlertNet Full site
Homepage | Newsdesk | NGO Latest | Crisis briefings | Country profiles | MediaWatch | Jobs | Alerting | Login

NEWSDESK

UGANDA: Starvation risk to 1m in northeast
30 Jul 2008 14:40:00 GMT
 Source: IRIN

Background

•  E. African hunger

•  Food and hunger

•  Children

•  Uganda violence

MORE >>
KAMPALA, 30 July 2008 (IRIN) - More than a million people are at risk of starvation in Uganda's semi-arid and remote northeastern regions and over 40,000 children are suffering acute to moderate malnutrition, a government official said.

Musa Ecweru, Uganda's state minister in charge of refugees and disaster preparedness, said prolonged dry conditions after flooding in the region last year had led to a 90 percent crop failure. Plants had failed to germinate under very hot conditions.

"We had expected a problem after the floods that attacked the very survival of the people by destroying staple food in Karamoja and Teso regions," the minister told IRIN in the capital, Kampala. "Sorghum has been destroyed in Karamoja while cassava has been destroyed in Teso.

"Now the situation is becoming very bad. Up to one million people are at risk of starvation in Karamoja, Teso and some areas of Lango District," Ecweru said, adding that livestock, an integral part of food security in the region, had been decimated by disease.

Karamoja, along Uganda's borders with Sudan and Kenya, is a chronically food-insecure region that has suffered three consecutive years of drought. With an estimated population of just over 1.1 million people, most Karamojong subsist on agro-pastoral or purely pastoral livelihoods.

"More resources are needed to feed all these people and provide them with planting materials," the minister added. "We plan to launch a flash appeal so that donors can help us. In some areas food is being rationed and the women and children are the victims in this episode of survival of the fittest. There is a high incidence of acute malnutrition among children."

The exact amounts of money needed to address the situation, he said, were being worked out.

According to a recent assessment by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), an estimated 35,000 children in Karamoja are targeted for supplementary feeding to combat moderate malnutrition. Another 7,500 require immediate medical treatment for severe acute malnutrition.

Late and reduced planting, OCHA said, with a growing toll of animal losses, meant general relief food distribution would be extended by three months through October 2008, targeting more than 700,000 people.

"Karamoja is approaching a period of humanitarian crisis that will be characterised by elevated levels of household food insecurity, heightened rates of gross acute and severe acute malnutrition and rising morbidity and loss of livestock and other livelihood capital," OCHA said.

"Without increased donor support, the urgent action required to address these increasing needs will not be achieved. Certainly, negative coping mechanisms, such as out-migration, asset stripping and early marriage among others, will be reinforced," the assessment added.

Poor health facilities

Humanitarian agencies note that the situation has been aggravated by inadequate health facilities in the region, which has some of the worst health indicators in the country.

Among the causes, according to OCHA, is extremely low access to and utilisation of basic health services due to poor health-seeking behaviour, insecurity, long distances and the highly mobile pastoralist lifestyle.

Uganda's health ministry recently piloted two nomadic health units to travel with one community for a year. One of the units was deployed in Kotido District, the other in Moroto, to enhance community access to health services through adaptation to the pastoralist lifestyle, Paul Kaggwa, the ministry spokesman, said.

However, the health statistics still show serious gaps in capacity. There are only two doctors on active duty in Obim district and only 56 percent of health posts in the district are filled (151 of 272 posts). Of 42 midwives required in the district, 11 posts are filled.

Only one vehicle was allocated to the district health office while 24 health staff have not received their salaries since October 2007. In Kaabong, only 45 percent of health posts are filled and in Kotido, only 51 percent. The regional referral hospital in Moroto has no physician at all.

vm/eo/mw

© IRIN. All rights reserved. More humanitarian news and analysis: http://www.IRINnews.org


AlertNet news is provided by
Email this article       Send comments

Topics

•  Floods

•  Children

•  Food and hunger

•  Refugees & displacement

•  Disaster mitigation

MORE >>

Emergencies

•  African hunger

•  E. African hunger

•  Uganda violence

•  E. African floods

MORE >>

NGO latest

•  Uganda: Donors must step up to help agencies address domestic violence
Refugees International - USA

•  ACT Appeal: Drought & Food Crisis, Ethiopia
ACT - Switzerland

•  ACT Alert: Floods in the western regions of Ukraine
ACT - Switzerland

•  UMCOR Hotline for July 29, 2008
UMCOR - USA

•  Democratic Republic of the Congo: Some 40,000 people to receive aid in North Kivu
ICRC - Switzerland

MORE >>

Latest news

•  UGANDA: Starvation risk to 1m in northeast

•  KENYA: Kiambaa IDPs still afraid to return home

•  SUDAN: Hope for Abyei's displaced as troops move out

•  Kenya Muslims say govt blocking abuse report

•  IRAQ: Fresh hope for 3,000 stranded Palestinian refugees

MORE >>

IRIN news

Related articles

Breaking stories
 UGANDA: Starvation risk to 1m in northeast (1 minute ago)

KENYA: Kiambaa IDPs still afraid to return home (1 minute ago)

AlertNet insight
 U.N. seeks urgent cash for Ethiopia food aid (1 minute ago)

Aid agency news feed
 Uganda: Donors must step up to help agencies address domestic violence (1 minute ago)

Blogs
 A million dollar view in impoverished East Timor (1 minute ago)

Maps
 MAP: Somalia: Humanitarian Needs and Access - July 2008 (1 minute ago)


Country information

Briefings
African hunger - [Who works where]
E. African hunger - [Who works where]
Uganda violence - [Who works where]
E. African floods - [Who works where]

Topics
Floods Children Food and hunger Refugees & displacement Disaster mitigation
Facts & figures
Uganda Sudan Kenya

Del.icio.us Del.icio.us  |   Digg Digg  |   NewsVine NewsVine  |   Reddit Reddit   
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-07-30T113630Z_01_MOS06_RTRIDSP_2_RUSSIA_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/MOS06.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-07-30T113213Z_01_MOS05_RTRIDSP_2_RUSSIA_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/MOS05.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-07-30T113119Z_01_MOS03_RTRIDSP_2_RUSSIA_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/MOS03.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-07-30T113003Z_01_MOS02_RTRIDSP_2_RUSSIA_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/MOS02.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-07-30T112741Z_01_MOS01_RTRIDSP_2_RUSSIA_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/MOS01.htm

A group of children from China's earthquake-hit Sichuan province admire the historic halls of Moscow's Kremlin during their meeting with Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev, July 30, 2008. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin (RUSSIA) ...


More pictures | Galleries
Disclaimers |  Copyright |  Privacy |  Contact Us |  Feedback |  About Us |  RSS XML

Last updated:Wed Jul 30 14:43:04 2008