Free Access | 2024-04-12

The effect of meeting NDP III targets for water and sanitation on child malnutrition in Uganda

Authors/Editors: Corti Paul Lakuma ,  Linda Nakato (PhD) ,  Taylor Hanna

Abstract:

Child malnutrition is an important issue in Uganda and is not distributed equally across the country. This Policy Note uses the International Futures (IFs) model to forecast the future of child malnutrition in Uganda at a regional level. The Note then explores the effect of meeting national targets on safe water and sanitation access, as defined in Uganda’s Third National Development Plan (NDPIII), on child malnutrition. The rate of child malnutrition, as a percent of children, has fallen below 10% and is expected to reduce to below 7% by 2030 in a ‘most likely’ Current Path scenario. However, this reduction has not kept pace with population growth. More children in Uganda are malnourished today than were in 2017, and that number is not expected to fall until after 2030. Child malnutrition rates are highest in Karamoja, where over 21% of children are malnourished, while the greatest number of children malnourished live in West Nile (98,000), followed by Tooro, Karamoja, and Busoga. While the number of children malnourished in West Nile and Karamoja is expected to dip below 50,000 by 2050, it is expected to grow in Bunyoro, which will be home to the largest number of malnourished children by the same year.