Short description

The Hunger free kids project provides practical solutions of training and demonstration on modern food production techniques and sensitization of parents on benefits of feeding young children on a balanced diet.

The problem we aim to solve

We want to tackle malnutrition which is rampant in children of Uganda. According to DFID-Uganda, around 32% of children under five in Africa have low levels of vitamin A hence are at huge risk of illness, poor vision, and blindness.

Undernourished children are often affected by stunting, which one in three children in Uganda live with. This exposes them to fall ill and underperform at school, later in life and at work.

Malnutrition leads to under performance in school and according to BBC report, around 133,000 Ugandan children that are suffering from stunting repeat a year in school.

Our solution

In recent years, the global health community has been focusing more of its efforts on fighting malnutrition, a complex problem that contributes to 45 Percent of deaths among children under the age of five worldwide of which Uganda malnutrition contributes to about 60 percent of child mortality (strides legacy series).

The 2011 Uganda Demographic and Health Survey found that 33 percent of children were stunted and that only 6 percent of children aged 6 to 23 months were fed appropriately based on the recommended infant and young child feeding practices. Household food insecurity, poor nutrition, and inadequate access to health care all contribute to the problem.

Through the Hunger free kids project, a comprehensive approach of fighting malnutrition through practical training and demonstration of modern locally applicable techniques of production of a variety of food in schools and households alongside community sensitization on good child feeding is done.

Practical training and demonstration of school children and community members on how to establish school and household vegetable and fruit gardens or any other crops is done to ensure that diversity of food can be produced both at school and within households with minimum resources available to ensure steady supply food and balanced diet feeding both at school and at home.

Community sensitization on proper feeding of children is done through community food field exhibitions, drama and audio visual messages to create knowledge and awareness about the need to fight malnutrition among kids. This approach works best because from home to school, the diet of the child is not distorted.