National Workshop Report Uganda (2015)

Karamoja sub region is a semi-arid area of northern Uganda that borders Kenya and Sudan. Out of 1.2 million Karamojong who live there, 82% live below the poverty line. There are several underlying factors to the region’s underdevelopment, including its relative isolation, persistent instability due to cattle rustling and conflict with neighbouring tribes, and chronic drought and flooding which results in poor harvest and food insecurity. The UNICEF/WFP 2014 Food Security and Nutrition Assessment, indicate that critically, the prevalence of Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) is approximately 2.8% (with a range of 1.8-5.6%) and Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) is approximately 13.4% (with a range of 8.4-22.2%). From January to March 2015, the first SLEAC and SQUEAC coverage assessments to be conducted in Uganda, took place in the Karamoja region. Following the SLEAC assessment of the whole Karamoja region, and a SQUEAC assessment in Moroto district, two workshops were organised.