Nutrition experts warn that the continued the feeding of children and pregnant mothers with none nutritional foods will impact negatively on the country’s economy and health living of the population. The nutrition specialist at Jinja regional hospital, Toko Mansuru says  that most Ugandans have failed to provide their children and themselves with nutritious foods but instead opt to feed on foods that they come across which has caused malnutrition among most Ugandan children. He says that foods which are not with nutrition  developed  severe conditions like acute malnutrition thus resulting into serious deficiencies among them being diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity for those who are over fed, cancers among other diseases which are expensive to treat at health facilities.

Meanwhile, Alex Kisembo the marketing director, RECO industries, a company that manufactures fortified foods which are given to persons who are malnourished says that its better for Ugandans to always feed on a balanced diet than just eating for the sake of getting satisfied. Kisembo adds  that to avoid such  conditions they should eat fortified foods so as they do not spend over three months in hospital. He further calls for a combined effort and strategies from all government  departments and agencies to expeditiously address the issue of malnutrition among Ugandan children if this burden is to be solved.

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A farmer who would benefit from ATONU

Agriculture to Nutrition (ATONU), a six-year project, supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, focusing on agriculture to deliver positive nutrition outcomes to smallholder farm families was launched in Kampala on Wednesday October 28, 2015.  Dr. Lindiwe Sibanda, Head of Mission and CEO  of the Food, Agriculture, and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN), the lead implementer of the project, noted that “It’s the Agriculture to Nutrition (ATONU) Improving Nutritional Outcomes Through Optimized Agricultural Investments Project. The continental initiative was  launched today, seeks to address the disconnect between agriculture and nutrition and  improve nutrition outcomes,”. FANRPAN based in Pretoria, South Africa will work with six Consortium Members in delivering the project in Sub Saharan Africa, including Ethiopia, Nigeria and Tanzania.

“Our policy makers need to say no to any investments that only focus on yields. We need them to push for agriculture that focuses on both yield and dense nutrient foods,” Dr Sibanda emphasized.

Dr. Sibanda made the remarks at the launch of the ATONU project at the 6th Africa Day for Food and Nutrition Security (ADFNS), an annual event of the African Union Commission that serves as a rallying point to intensify political and financial commitments at all levels to address contemporary challenges of food and nutrition insecurity in Africa.

According to FAO, Sub-Saharan Africa is the region with the highest prevalence of undernourishment in the world – at 23.2 percent, or almost one in every four people. With such statistics the ATONU project is a welcome one. The project that specifically targets women of child-bearing age and children in the first 1,000 days of life, the most nutritionally vulnerable, is being implemented in Ethiopia, Nigeria and Tanzania. ATONU’s primary beneficiaries will be smallholder farm families in the three countries before it is rolled out in other countries depending on demand.

The ATONU project has been endorsed by His Majesty King Letsie III of the Kingdom of Lesotho. King Letsie III is Africa’s nutrition champion. “I call upon Africa to embrace ATONU because it puts emphasis on smallholder farm families and empowers women as agents of change towards achieving household food and nutrition security and health outcomes,” the king said in a video message during the launch of the project. The project will run for six years with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation providing funding to the tune of US$16 million (approximately 56.8 billion Uganda Shillings).

“Malnutrition has been primary looked at as lacking enough food. Yields have increased but malnutrition persists. Agriculture needs to reconsider how success is measured. Agriculture can do more for nutrition by focusing on quality as opposed to high yields alone,” explained Dr. Shelly Sundberg of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “Investments in agriculture must emphasise high quality nutrient foods and ensure that they are affordable by poor people,” she added.  The foundation is launching a similar project in India to cover the Asian region.

Prof George William Otim-Nape, an ATONU Steering Committee Member and CEO of the Africa Innovations Institute in Kampala noted that “Agriculture has arrived at a place where the focus should widen beyond production and income to improved nutrition,”  Isatou Jallow, Senior Nutrition & Partnership Advisor – Head, Food Security & Nutrition Programme at NEPAD called for “strengthening institutional capacities and systems, partnerships and knowledge sharing for enhanced delivery of food and nutrition security interventions.” This, she said, will accelerate action towards improved nutrition of mothers when pregnant leading to well nourished babies.

A report titled “Healthy Food for a Healthy World: Leveraging Agriculture and Food to Improve Global Nutrition” was launched by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs; Prof Catherine Bertini represented the council. “Malnutrition is a global challenge affecting every country on earth and placing more than one quarter of the world’s population at serious health risk,” she added “Given that nutrition is driven largely by the food people eat, making nutrition a priority in developing the global food system could give more people access to the healthy foods they need to thrive, drive economic growth in poor countries, and increase incomes of 2.5 billion small-scale farmers, many of whom themselves are malnourished,”.

The project’s ultimate objective is to ensure that policy makers and investors support agriculturalists to design and implement projects that deliver positive nutrition outcomes, reducing malnutrition in smallholder farm families.

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Avoid food items that make you flush. Doctors at CaliforniaUniversity say that spicy foods, caffeine and alcohol tripwires for most Rosacea sufferers.

Sugar and iodized salts may also dilate your blood vessels. Learn which foods bother your skin and eliminate them from your diet.

Be careful of foods and drinks that are hot in temperature. Allow beverages and soups to cool before you eat them.

Saturated fat has an inflammatory effect on many body systems, including the skin. If you stay away from red meat and fried, greasy foods, you will also improve your digestion.

 Also you may avoid red meat, poultry and milk. People with psoriasis often have difficulty digesting protein and these foods are the hardest on your intestines. In addition both red meat and milk contain arachidonic acid which aggravates inflammation.

Don’t eat other foods that are difficult to digest. Fatty, fried and junk foods all fall into this category, as do products that are high in refined sugar. Alcohol causes inflammation and triggers psoriasis in many people.

Ends

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Systems of Tuberculosis (TB) and malnutrition often go together. A child with the disease may fail to gain weight, lose energy, and have cough lasting for more than two weeks.

That child may look unhealthy, have prolonged fever and is tired all the time. In addition, a child with TB may find it hard to breathe.

There are also some dangers of TB in children below the age of 2 and among HIV victims.

The children below 2 years and people living with HIV are particularly at risk because they have an under developed and compromised immune system.

The disease (TB) starts with presents as an on and off cough, resisting most antibiotic treatment.

TB is an airborne disease caused by TB bacilli which is primarily affects the lungs; lymphnodes, intestines, kidneys, joints, brain, spine and the skin are also affected. Over 1000,000 children develop TB and 100,000 die annually in Uganda.

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This has been confirmed by the woman member for Namutumba Florence Mutyabule.

She told journalists in Kampala that more 7 children died of a disease related to malnutrition and she attributed the cause of the deaths to hail storm that caused food shortage in the area and children have no food.

She asked the ministry of health to extend the Nutrition programme to Namutumba district to prevent more children from dying of malnutrition.

Mutyabule also called on the ministry of Disaster preparedness to provide more food to the people in the area because the food sent to them has got finished.

She asked the ministry of Agriculture to procure seeds and hoes for the people affected by hail storm to plant their own food.

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