Uganda

Two-year-old Sarah lives with her grandparents and eight other children. The food rations they are provided rarely see them to the end of the month. The ongoing war in Uganda has separated Sarah from her parents.

Over 2.1 million people in the north, north-east and eastern regions of Uganda need urgent assistance. The Karamoja region in the north-eastern part of the country is the most seriously affected area in terms of food insecurity. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs’ (OCHA’s) Regional Office for Central and Eastern Africa says the prolonged dry spell – it’s in its third consecutive year – continues to delay the single cropping season and increase susceptibility of livestock to deadly diseases. Drought, livestock disease and 20 years of insecurity relating to rebel war in northern Uganda have exacerbated the current crisis. With an estimated 1.2 million people affected by displacement, many people have limited access to land and are unable to grow their own food.

Crisis Facts:

• Delays in rains have kept 90% of families from planting for the next season.
• 707,000 people in Karamoja (70% of the population) are currently receiving food assistance.
• The Moroto and Nakapiripirit districts of Karamoja were already reporting Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) rates approaching 16% in February 2008.
• Child health is threatened by high levels of malaria and pneumonia amongst children under five with a child mortality rate almost 30% higher than the national average.
• In Teso, in the eastern region of the country, flooding in late 2007 followed by insufficient rain in 2008 has led to poor harvests and spiralling food costs. The cost of millet, the staple food, has increased by 200%.

World Vision in Uganda

14 November 2008 Thurza Sullivan gives an update on the impact of the Global Food Crisis on Uganda and World Vision's programming (2:40)

World Vision is currently supporting 288,000 people with food distributions in Pader and Gulu districts. We will be scaling up our emergency response operations to support 800,000 people over the next few months, including operations in the Karamoja district. World Vision will be providing food aid and supplementary feeding for mothers and children, among other activities.

Two of our child sponsorship programs have been been affected by the food crisis. Letters have been sent to sponsors informing them of the situation in the area where their sponsored child lives. Affected children and families within our sponsorship programs are among those receiving aid. Please be assured that if we receive specific information concerning the wellbeing of individual sponsored children we will contact their sponsor as a matter of urgency.

World Vision continues to advocate for the finalisation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement to bring peace and security to people in northern Uganda.