UGANDA / MALNUTRITION

In Uganda's remote, drought-stricken region of Karamoja, swaths of arid, unproductive land and a culture of nomadic cattle herding have led to severe food shortages and devastating hunger. Karamoja suffers from one the worst rates of malnutrition in the world: in 2010, 16 percent of children under five years old suffered from acute malnutrition, and nearly 40 percent of children in this age group were underweight. UNICEF

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:02:20
• Production Date: 29 June 2011
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN'S FUND - UNICEF
• Subject Topical: NUTRITION
• Geographic Subject: UGANDA
• MAMS Id: U110629d

Description

STORY: UGANDA / MALNUTRITION
TRT: 2.20
SOURCE: UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH

DATELINE: 20 JUNE 2011, KARAMOJA REGION, UGANDA

Shotlist

1. Wide shot, aerial of African landscape
2. Wide shot, herder with cattle
3. Wide shot, people at well
4. Med shot, child face
5. Close up, child’s arm being measured
6. Med shot, people sitting with children at a health centre
7. Tilt down, child’s face to hands
8. Med shot, child sucking his thumb
9. Med shot, malnourished child being lifted to scale
10. Close up, child’s face
11. Wide shot, women & children at the health centre
12. Close up, bag with medication
13. Med shot, woman preparing medicine
14. Pan right, scale
15. Pan left, people waiting at the health center
16. SOUNDBITE (English) Fausto Prieto Perez, ECHO:
“The European Union’s Humanitarian Aid department is providing the financial support to UNICEF and its implementing partners to ensure that the program the IMAM program is undertaken to the best of its capacity.”
17. Wide shot, exterior Moroto Health centre
18. Close up, snacks
19. Close up, child drinking
20. Med shot, child drinking
21. Med shot, mother walking with son in her arms
22. Med shot, women in line with their babies
23. Med shot, mother holding child and preparing him for the examination
24. Med close up, boy being weighed
25. Close up, child’s arm being measured
26. Tilt down, scale to face of child
27. SOUNDBITE (English) Paska Ongiertho, OTC Nurse, Moroto Health centre:
“The condition looks much improved and the child is now gaining appetite. What we are going to do is to give the Plumpy'nut and tell the mother to give at home.”
28. Med shot, health worker with mother and child
29. Wide shot, health worker explaining health practices
30. Med shot, women listening
31. Med shot, children walking from under a tree
32. Med shot, family at home
33. Med shot, little boy eating
34. Med shot, boy with mother
35. Med shot, child’s face

Storyline

This daily scene is a reminder of deeper issues that challenge this remote region in north-eastern Uganda. Here, swaths of arid, unproductive land and a culture of nomadic cattle herding have led to severe food shortages and devastating hunger.
Karamoja suffers from one the worst rates of malnutrition in the world. In 2010, 16 per cent of children under the age of five suffered from acute malnutrition and nearly 40 percent of children in this age group were underweight.
Lochoto and Francis suffer from acute malnutrition. One-year-old Lochoto had developed skin rashes and edema which makes his body swell due to water retention. And two-year-old Francis’ body lacks calories, proteins and most of all - energy.

Both boys are in critical condition and need to undergo treatment immediately.

A program called IMAM (Integrated Management of Acute Malnutrition) funded by the European Union’s Humanitarian Aid department (ECHO) is now helping them to get much needed treatment.

SOUNDBITE (English), Fausto Prieto Perez, ECHO:
“The European Union’s Humanitarian Aid department is providing the financial support to UNICEF and its implementing partners to ensure that the program, the IMAM program, is undertaken to the best of its capacity.”

When Francis and Lochoto were first admitted to the program at Moroto Hospital, their odds of survival were low, but after seven days of intensive medical and nutritional care, both boys recovered from the worst and were able to return home.

Weekly visits to the nearby health centre over the following months were the next step of the IMAM program. Just two weeks later, Lochoto’s skin rash was almost gone and the swelling reduced. Francis, now at 7 kg, was slowly regaining weight and energy.

SOUNDBITE (English), Paska Ongiertho, OTC Nurse, Moroto Health centre:
“The condition looks much improved and the child is now gaining appetite. What we are going to do is to give the Plumpy'nut and tell the mother to give at home”

As part of the program, mothers are sensitized by Village Health Teams at the health centre and in their communities on best practices in nutrition and hygiene.

In order to address the root causes of malnutrition, IMAM also includes training for the health teams to conduct health promotion activities with mothers on nutrition, food security, water and sanitation.