The Impact of Malnutrition on Ugandan Children
Malnutrition is considered to be one of the major global health problems that are particularly affecting the developing countries of the world to a great extent. Children are seen to be particularly vulnerable to develop poor health physically as well as mentally. This is mainly because adequate nutrition is essential for ensuring healthy growth and development of the children who in turn help in making the generation successful by contributing a dedicating for the development of nation (Ashaba et al. 2015). However, Africa is seen to be severely affected by Malnutrition in children and in the nation of Uganda about 2.3 million children under the age of five has been seen to be chronically malnourished. In addition to this, shortage of the healthcare professionals as well as lack of access to healthcare services is seen to make the situation worse for the Ugandan communities. Malnutrition is now been considered as one of the major public health concern in the nation of Uganda as it has become a threat to the survival as well as the development of the children. Researchers are of the opinion that unlike starvation, malnutrition is almost invisible (Salse et al. 2015). Three quarters of children who are vulnerable and are at risk of embracing death from malnutrition are seen to suffer from milder forms of malnutrition and therefore, they show no outward signs of starvation. The fatal injuries are mainly seen to affect indeed the body and brain is the region which becomes more vulnerable to the face the consequences of poor nutrition (Bartelink et al. 2015). The assignment will mainly put light on the various aspects of malnutrition in children in Uganda and the different initiatives taken for their betterment.
Uganda has made good amount of progress in the reduction of several diseases like HIV, malaria as well as tuberculosis and has also become successful in producing sufficient amount of food on a national level in order to meet the needs of the population. There has been also significant reduction in the poverty level from 39% in 2002 to that of 23% in 2010. However, the levels of malnutrition among women and that of young children have been to seen to have improved very minimally. Researchers are of the opinion that certain indicators of malnutrition like micronutrient deficiency have been seen to worsen over the pat twenty years. Uganda’s Bureau of Statistics, in collaboration with the World Bank had conducted different types of surveys that have reported the statistics of stunting, underweight as well as wasting prevalence in the nation of Uganda (Herrin 2017). The data is seen to reveal that for children from six to 59 months; about 34% is seen to be stunted. About 15% is seen to be underweight and about 55 is seen to be wasted. When gender analysis has been done, it was seen that boys have higher rates of malnutrition than that of girls and 39% of under 5 boys are seen to be stunted when the number is compared while only 30% of the under-5 girls are seen to be stunted. About 18% and 6 % of boys in Uganda of the age under 5 are seen to be underweight and wasted in comparison to that of 15% and 4% in girls of the age under 5 (Berg 2015). The data proposed by USAID have shown that under nutrition has disproportionately affected rural areas and the rates of stunting are seen to be above 36% when compared to 195 of the children in the urban areas.
Causes of Malnutrition in Ugandan Children
Malnutrition is seen to kill many Ugandans every year. Low birth weight is rampant in the nation along with over 16000 children who takes birth weighing less than 2.5 kg dying in the year of 2009. Reports by UNICEF have supported that and they have stated that other forms of death due to malnutrition are associated with more than 67500 children deaths in the year 2009. Moreover, malnutrition children grow to be adults who also suffer from the issues of lack of nutrition. Therefore, when they try to work for the agricultural sector that is the main employment for the people of Uganda, they fail miserably. US$ 34 million worth of productivity was seen to be lost in the year 2009 and this was mainly due to the iron deficiency in the adult population (Vanderkam et al. 2016). Other losses to agriculture occur when time lost due to illness is considered or when time is los in caring for others in the family. Therefore, malnutrition in children also affects their future adult’s life as well. Uganda is seen to lose about US$310 million worth of productivity every year due to various types of reasons related to malnutrition is that it levels of high levels of stunting, iron deficiency, iodine deficiency disorders as well as low birth weight. Moreover, malnutrition is highly expensive to treat. This can be exemplified (Kristensoen et al. 2016). Treating sever acute malnutrition is seen to cost around US$120 per child. Therefore, in this way, malnutrition is seen to contribute to a loss of about 4.1% of the gross domestic product (GDP) per year and this indeed results in huge burden on the entire nation. Malnutrition also affects the education and intellectual potential in the schoolchildren and this in turn results in poor quality life when they turn into adults.
The theory of social suffering developed by Arthur Kleinman can be applied to the discussion to shed more light. He describes in the theory that collective as well as individual human suffering are seen to be associated with different life conditions that are in turn shaped by different types of powerful social forces (Kleinman et al., 2010). This theory is mainly seen to depict the idea that pain and suffering of the disorder is not only limited to the individual sufferer but is also seen to extend at times to their families as well as social network. Social suffering is mainly seen to be the human consequences of war, depression, famine, diseases torture as well as the whole assemblage of the different problems of humans. These problems mainly result from how the economic, political as well as institutional power affects people and the responses of humans to social problems. An interesting article has been seen to state that the ministry of health of the nation has not yet put nutrition to be the forefront prioritized situation. More importance is given to HIV/Aids, tuberculosis and malaria. If Uganda is seen to only add $ 1 million for good nutrition programme, it can save over six million that is quite a lot of money for the developing nation. It is still noted that about 125 of women in the nation are malnourished. 38% of children are underweight, 16% are stunted, and 6% are wasted. The excessive level of social suffering of nutritious food in the nation of the Uganda can be also dedicated to the poverty levels of the nation. People in the nation are still lacking non-monetary resources like the improper sanitation, no access to electricity, improper education and well-being along with poor nutrition of children and others. If the generations are living with such a poor quality of life, they will have very little to forward to their next generation. Hence, malnutrition in children of one generation will continue to affect the other generations is rapid changes to alter the social structures are not done.
Effects of Malnutrition on the Health of Children in Uganda
Household food security is considered to be one of the major reason for malnutrition in children in the nation. Poor access to diversified foods, low nutrient content of foods low use of different types of fortified foods, low agricultural productivity are some of the factors that contribute to poor nutrient intake for the children. Apart from these, inappropriate as well as inadequate maternal and childcare is also of the reason that results in contributing to occurrence of the disorder (Lanyero et al. 2017). High daily workload for women, teenage pregnancy as well as too frequent births as well as poor knowledge about caring for their children makes the condition of malnutrition more pronounced. Moreover, thirdly, improper access to healthcare as well as healthy environment is also effective contributors to the occurrence of malnutrition in the children in the nation. Apart from this underlying cause, several basic causes also contribute to poor health of the children. Culture, education as well as awareness of the parents are significant indicators that help us to understand about the situation. Limited maternal education is one of the contributing factors. Researchers have also stated that they follow many traditional practices that have adverse effects on the maternal as well as child feeding as well as health and reproductive care of the women (Namusoke et al. 2016). Moreover, insufficient access to that of household economic resources is also the cause that results in poor nutrition option to that of the children.
Malnutrition is seen to have many negative effects on health of the children. Malnutrition is seen to cause degrades human response as well as weak musculature. When the immune system of the body is degraded, it results in making the body more susceptible to infections. The energy as well as the nutrient resources of the body is consumed entirely and this results in the breaking down of the body tissue. Researchers are of the opinion that body proteins have a large number of vital functions and they are not able to be dispensed without causing any harm and damage to the vital functions (Grenov et al. 2017). The heart muscles are seen to get weak and thereby this leads to decreased blood pressure as well as slowering of the pulse. This is in turn seen to impaired circulation. The weakened respiratory musculature is seen to lead to shallow breathing as well as less energy coughing up the phlegm. The synthesis of the enzymes as well as proteins that are seen to take place in normal conditions are also seen to deteriorate and may in turn lead to many different effects like the poor wound healing. Amount of body fat in the body helps in determining the survival time. Permanent damages are seen to take place if more than 30% of the proteins of the body is not consumed (Kakooza et al. 2015). Nutrients also are extremely important for cognitive development of children and physical development of brain. This also gets affected leading to poor quality life even if they survive o their adulthood.
The Social and Economic Impact of Malnutrition in Uganda
Malnutrition not only results in various type of mental and physical disorders in the children but they also have huge impacts on the community where they survive. Malnutrition is seen to prevent children from reaching their full potential. This is said so as affected children are seen to underperform in schools which in turn limit their full job opportunities. Such children are seen to be less able to work and thereby fail to contribute sufficiently to local economies. Therefore, the finance required to lead a proper quality life and to help the family to strive well cannot be achieved by the affected individuals in course of time (Heilskov et al. 2015). Therefore, in a way, the entire community gets affected when most of the members are living poor quality life and cannot work to their full potential to develop the situation of the society. This is also seen to create huge pressure on the healthcare sectors of the community for which huge resources are required. Therefore, it also results in a burden on the healthcare centres of the community. Malnutrition is seen to lead to under performance in schools that contributes to a total amount of loss of $116 million which could have resulted from educated workers. Therefore, it results in financial burden on the community along with loss of quality of each of the individual living in the community (Dong et al. 2018).
Ministry of health had tried its best to handle the situation effectively. They had developed Uganda Nutrition action plan with effective development of objective strategies as well as strategic interventions that would help in development of the nutritional status of the children in the nation. They had try to develop more access to as well as utilisation of the nutrition as well as the health services to all women who are of the reproductive age, infants as well as young children. They have also taken active steps for addressing the gender as well as socio-cultural issues that affect maternal, infant as well as young child nutrition. The government had also taken initiatives for increasing the access as well as the use of diversified nutritious foods at the household level (Batte et al. 2017). Moreover, it is also seen that the initiatives are also taken that help in the enhancement of post harvest handling, storage as well as utilisation of the nutritious foods at the household and far levels. They also helps in promoting the consumption of nutrient enhanced foods and even put significance to the development of preparedness plans for shocks. Strengthening policy frameworks and many other initiatives were taken to make sure that the children develop better quality lives in the nation.
Solutions to Address Malnutrition in Ugandan Children
The USAID had conducted an analysis of the nutrition profile in the children of the nation of Uganda and had come with astonishing figures stating the poor condition on nutrition distribution in the different regions of nation. They had established the project namely community connector and as awarded in the year 2012. It needed in the year 2017. It was aimed in reduction of poverty, mainly by enabling the vulnerable households in the nation of Uganda for achievable sustainable food as well as livelihood security through community action level (Motlhadlhedi et al. 2017). These had two immediate results. It helped in the development of the nutritional status of women and children and provided equitable and sustainable opportunities for improved livelihoods. Another project was proposed in the year 2012 that was named as the Production for Improved Nutrition (PIN). It was seen to correctly undertake the right goals of reducing the burden of malnutrition in Uganda mainly by the production as well as the distribution of therapeutic as well as supplementary food to meet the national or regional demand (Marquez et al. 2014). Another program also under the USAID that can be well suggested to have brought out considerable positive outcomes is the Northern Uganda Health Integration for Enhanced Services
(NU-HITES) in the year 2012. It ensured quality primary health services are available accessible and affordable for the mothers with heir young children thereby helping them to be educated and develop good knowledge about importance of nutrition intake as well as sustainable delivery of quality health service. UNICEF has also taken many initiatives to develop the conditions of the children in the nation of Uganda. They have planned that along with the other partners, UNICEF in the year 2018 is planning 663036 children under the age 6 to 59 months to receive vitamin a supplements in the first semester 9elizabeth et al. 2016). They have planned those 21914 children of the same age cohort who are affected by severe acute malnutrition called SAM to be admitted to treatment. They have also planned that within the year 2017 they would be helping 129920 pregnant women receiving iron as well as folic acid supplements or multiple micronutrient supplements. These steps are praiseworthy as they have correctly made objectives to help in developing the basic nutrient requirement of the children and making them to develop their nutrient resource successfully. The UK government is also seen to have published a policy paper with 2010 to 2015 that mainly aimed in developing hunger and malnutrition in developing countries. They have given information about the detail actions they would be taking. They have put forward initiatives like helping in improving the nutrition for mothers and children in poorer countries, developing agricultural productivity in developing countries, working in international partners to reduce hunger and malnutrition as well as researching the best ways to reduce hunger and malnutrition in the countries (Muzigaba et al. 2018). However, one of the most important issue is that they have not proposed anything particularly for Uganda and neither their activities are specific enough which shows that the goals are quite broad and not prepared following a smart goal like that of the UNICEF. However, their efforts are praiseworthy and these would help in bringing out the best effects if conducted successfully.
From the entire discussion above, it becomes clear that malnutrition in children in the nation of Uganda not only results in immediate negative effects on the children but also leads to long-term ill effects on the community. Therefore, in order to help them develop high quality life, several organisational both international and national should work collaboratively to bring out the best outcomes and help Uganda develop as safer places that provide adequate nutrition to children.
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