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Nutrition Status of Refugee and Host-Country Children: Negotiating for Equal Distribution of Relief Food During Emergencies in Uganda

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Abstract

About 25.4 million people worldwide are living as refugees of whom 1.36 million are in Uganda. The refugees in this study were from South Sudan. The objective of this study was to determine the nutrition status of the refugee children and elucidate the factors that contribute to poor nutrition status among the host. The study used comparative analytical cross-sectional design on 340 children aged 6–59 months. The overall prevalence of global acute malnutrition was 3.9%, underweight 14.1%, and stunting 24.7%. Five factors contributed to poor nutrition status; household size (ORa 1.34, 1.92), illness in wasted, stunted and underweight (ORa 1.47, 1.49, 1.97) children, being a host in relation to wasting and stunting (ORa 1.81, 1.36) and deworming (ORa 3.2, 2.13). Although the host had good nutrient intake, the refugee children had better nutrition status. Therefore, the Uganda government should formulate a policy that allows the host to benefit equally from food relief during emergencies.

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Acknowledgements

The Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) granted access to Bidi Bidi Refugee Settlement for this study. UNICEF Uganda through Yumbe District Nutrition Department provided anthropometric equipment to conduct this research. Technical support of Nobert Alaru, the 13 enumerators and welfare support from Doreen Temaiya were very helpful. The authors heartily extend their sincere gratitude for all the above support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Food Science, Nutrition and Technology, University of Nairobi, P. O. Box 29053-00625, Nairobi, Kenya

    Joseph Mandre, Dasel Wambua Mulwa Kaindi & Wambui Kogi-Makau

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  1. Joseph Mandre
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  2. Dasel Wambua Mulwa Kaindi
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  3. Wambui Kogi-Makau
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Contributions

MJ, being the principal investigator (PI), took the overall responsibility of the research project hence participated in all its facets. The co-investigators, KDMW and KMW contributed to the overall design and other facets of the study while KDMW together with PI designed the questionnaires in open data kit and ona.io platform, assisted in fieldwork and data analysis. The team then produced the manuscript ready for submission.

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Correspondence to Joseph Mandre.

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Mandre, J., Kaindi, D.W.M. & Kogi-Makau, W. Nutrition Status of Refugee and Host-Country Children: Negotiating for Equal Distribution of Relief Food During Emergencies in Uganda. J Immigrant Minority Health 24, 1387–1397 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-022-01354-4

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