Agency
The Ministry of Health (MOH) has launched a new campaign to curb malnutrition by distributing egg powder to young children in selected districts.
Dr. Laura Ahumuza, a Senior Nutritionist at the Ministry, said the campaign aims to reach over 25,000 children aged between six and twenty-three months.
Each child will be given a sachet of egg powder per day for a period of six months.
The campaign will start in Kamwenge district, which currently has the highest stunting levels in the country, before expanding to Kyenjojo and Kasese districts.
Ahumuza explained that Village Health Teams will be responsible for distributing the sachets to households with young children and emphasized that daily intake can meet or exceed children’s dietary requirements for essential amino acids and significantly contribute to vitamin and mineral intake.
Baseline studies conducted by the Ministry revealed that cultural myths, such as beliefs that women and children under one year should not eat eggs, contribute to poor dietary habits. Currently, general malnutrition levels remain high.
The 2022 Uganda Demographic and Health Survey shows that 26% of children under five are stunted, meaning they are too short for their age.
Uganda had initially set a target to reduce stunting to 12.5% by 2030, a goal that is increasingly unlikely to be achieved unless significant interventions like this one succeed.
