This report is a component of the main report of the Uganda National Panel Survey (UNPS) conducted by the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS). The overall objective of the panel survey is to collect high-quality data on key outcome indicators such as poverty, service delivery, governance, nutrition and employment among others; to monitor the Government’s development programmes.
Nutrition status of children
The proportion of children in the panel who are stunted declined from 34% in 25%. The proportion of male children who were severely stunted was almost twice as much as the respective proportion of female children. Stunting was highest in the 12-23 months age group (32.5%). A decline in wasting among children was observed from 4.5% in 2009/10 to 3.2%, the proportion of children who were wasted was higher in urban households (4.3%) compared to rural households (2.8%) in 2019/2020. The proportion of underweight children steadily declined through rounds of the panel from 15.4% in 2009/10 to 7.8% in 2019/20. Overall, 3.1% of children under 5 years old were overweight. The proportion of children who were anaemic increased from 30% in 2018/19 to 44% in 2019/20.
Nutrition status of adults
Almost 3% of adolescents were overweight and 0.5% of adolescent girls were obese in 2019/20. Overall, the proportion of women with anaemia increased from 16% in 2018/19 to 26% in 2019/20. The proportion (30%) of pregnant women that were anaemic was higher than that observed in non-pregnant women and the national average. 9% of women were underweight while 21% were overweight. 18% of men were underweight and 10.3% were overweight. 6.5% of women 8% of men had a raised blood pressure in 2019/20
Maternal, infant, young child, adolescent and adult nutrition
Early initiation of breastfeeding from 83.5% to 81.7% and bottle feeding declined from 15.4%. Only, 11.4% of children received the required minimum dietary diversity and 53.8% received the required meal frequency. Consequently, the proportion of infants/children that meet minimum acceptable diet was a mere 8.0% in 2018/19. Among women of reproductive age (15-49 years) only 11% met the minimum dietary diversity. Vitamin A supplementation coverage was up to 75.8% of children and 5 in 10 of children between 12-59 months were dewormed.
Household meal frequency and food availability
The proportion of households that had only two meals per day including breakfast was 37.5%. Also, the proportion of households that faced a situation where they didn’t have enough food to feed the household in the previous 12 months was 14.1%. The UNPS findings also revealed that nationally, the highest proportion of food expenditure is towards staple foods (40.8%).
Nutrition in child health care
Measles and (Diphtheria-pertussis-tetanus) DPT3 immunization coverage of children aged 12-23 months were at each 95%. The proportion of children under 2 years that had diarrhoea 2 weeks preceding the survey was 11.3%, of these, 48.9% received oral rehydration solutions and zinc for the management of the diarrhoea. 10.6% of the children that had diarrhoea received recommended home fluids. The proportion of children that had a fever was 25.2%, among these, 94.1% had advice or treatment sought for management of the fever. The proportion of children that slept under a mosquito slight reduced 81.2%.
Nutrition in education and sports
The UNPS also collected data on meals provisions at school for school going children (day scholars) aged 6-12 years. The findings revealed that 47.5% and 46.3% of school-going children received meals at schools. The proportion of children that received meals at school was higher among urban households compared to rural households, 58.2% vs 43.8% and 60.1% vs 41.9% in 2018/19 and 2019/20 respectively.
Nutrition in water, hygiene and sanitation
The UNPS data revealed an increase in the proportion of household with access to an improved drinking water source from 80.9% to 83.4% in 2018/19 and 2019/20 respectively. The proportion was higher in the urban areas and the Eastern region. The proportion of households whose distance to the nearest water source was less than 200m remained similar between 2018/19 and 2019/20 at 40.9% and 40.2% respectively. The proportion of households whose time to the water source took less than 20 minutes slightly decreased from 66.0% in 2018/19 to 64.6% in 2019/20 respectively. The proportion of households with handwashing facilities that had soap and water reduced from 6.5% to 5%.