Nutritional Support for Teen Mothers and Young Children in Western Uganda

About the Project

The project consisted of implementing a nutrition program to support the health status of very young children born to teenage mothers.

Location

Nyangorongo Parish, Maliba Sub-County, Kasese District, Uganda

Quick Project Stats

High Risk of Health Impacts Due to Malnutrition in Kasese District

In Uganda, it’s estimated that 29% of children aged 6-59 months are stunted, 4% wasted, and 11% underweight. The highest burden of stunting (40.6%) among children under five years is registered in the Tooro sub-region (UBOS, 2016) where Kasese District is located. In addition, Kasese District is generally battling with a high caseload of stunting among children aged 6-59 months at 44.9%, way above the Tooro sub-regional and national statistics (Enos Mirembe Masereka, 2020). Similarly, 56.4% of children under the age of five years born to teenage mothers in Kasese are stunted (GEDA, 2023), a figure that is almost double that of the national statistic of 29%. Stunting is a significant public health issue with long-term consequences on the health, growth, development, and productivity of young children now and in their future.

From Malnutrition to Empowerment: Luena-Funded Nutrition Program Transforms Lives of Teenage Mothers and Their Children

The donation from Luena Foundation was used to implement a multi-faceted three-month nutrition program for 20 teenage mothers of children under five years old. The program included these components:

1. Training of teenage mothers in Maternal, Infant, Young Child and Adolescent Nutrition (MYCAN), including nutrition during pregnancy and lactation; child health and nutrition practices; forms, identification, causes, effects and prevention of malnutrition; and water, sanitation and hygiene practices.
2. Training of teenage mothers on nutrition assessment, including measurements to screen children for nutritional deficiencies.
3. Conducting a cooking demonstration on preparation of nutrient-dense porridges and food for young children and infants using locally available ingredients such as matooke, cassava, ground nuts, beans, bananas, and avocados.
4. Conducting on-farm trainings of teenage mothers and their household members on sustainable production practices for nutrient-dense crops such as iron-rich beans and orange fleshy sweet potatoes.

The impacts of this program are already being seen:

1. During the project period, the 3 children who were malnourished slowly stabilized and are regaining their normal body weight.
2. 20 teenage mothers all planted iron-rich beans and flesh sweet potatoes for harvest in June.
3. Harriet, one of the teenage mothers, said, I personally did not take breastfeeding seriously until I started attending these sessions; I would breastfeed like 4 times a day until I learnt that it must be exclusive.”
4. Another teenage mother, Musoki Gift, said, “I can now comfortably take MUAC measurements for my child, and I have known what to do to keep my child healthy, especially by providing well-cooked and nutritious foods. Thanks to GEDA and Luena for providing the iron-rich beans and flesh sweet potatoes. Am sure I’m going to have enough food as soon as we harvest and seed for planting going forward.”

Meet our Partner Community-Based Organization

GEDA-Uganda (Gender Environment and Development Action) was founded with a gender and environment mission geared towards understanding the measures and drivers of gender inequality in environment, economic, health, and socio-cultural  spheres in development and humanitarian contexts with strong commitment and action learning agenda to ignite community led innovations and solutions that promote gender equity and environmental and economic justice for a world where women and girls have the power to harness their full potential.

To learn more about our partner organization, click here.