5.2.1.2 Contribute to the attainment of a significant reduction of morbidity and mortality due to environmental health and unhygienic practices and other environmental health related conditions.
o Disseminate the food hygiene and safety, safe water chain and hand washing guidelines.
o Support local governments to enforce food hygiene and safety, safe water chain and hand washing standards.
o Establish early warning systems on environmental health related risk factors e.g water quality, food safety and sanitation and hygiene related disease out breaks.
5.2.1.4 Improve the health status of the school children, their families and teachers and to inculcate appropriate health seeking behaviour among this population.
• Expand the coverage of the school health and nutrition programme to include more schools
• Strengthen the policy and legal environment for provision of school health services.
o Develop the missing health standards (e.g. nutrition and screening) and operationalise all standards
• Expand the provision of clean water and improved sanitation to schools, with special emphasis on primary schools
5.2.1.7 Scale up delivery of nutrition services:
Strategy 1: To reduce the incidence and prevalence macro- and micro-nutrient deficiencies and associated mortality among vulnerable groups.
• Strengthen maternal nutrition interventions to ensure optimal pregnancy outcomes and healthy infancy:
o Provide micronutrient supplements (iron, folic acid, vitamin A and other relevant) to target groups.
o Encourage and support antenatal care services through health and nutrition education.
o Promote the consumption of high nutrient density local foods
• Integrate infant and young child nutrition interventions into maternal, infant and young child services to ensure growth and development:
o Provide infant and young child feeding counselling services during ante-natal and post-natal care.
o Strengthen growth monitoring and promotion services at facility and community levels.
o Support infant and young child feeding in the context of HIV.
o Provide bi-annual Vitamin A supplementation and deworming to targeted groups.
• Scale up micronutrient initiatives:
o Develop a comprehensive policy framework for micronutrient deficiency control.
o Provide support for implementation of a consolidated policy on micronutrient deficiency control.
o Promote food fortification by working with relevant public and private stakeholders.
o Promote food supplementation
• Promote good quality diets through diet diversification:
o Conduct nutrition education and counselling at facility, family and community levels.
o Promote consumption of locally produced fortified foods.
o Encourage the production and preparation of a variety of locally available nutritious foods.
• Integrate the management of malnutrition into the health delivery system:
o Integrate identification, screening, referral and management of acute malnurished children into routine service delivery at facility level and community levels using national IMAM protocols.
o Support and promote national procurement of therapeutic feeds and supplies.
o Promote local production of therapeutic feeds.
• Integrate nutrition into the treatment and management of HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria:
o Incorporate nutrition support into the management and treatment of HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria interventions.
o Establish coordination mechanisms among partners involved in food and nutrition and HIV, TB and malaria interventions.
o Support community involvement in provision of nutrition support to HIV/AIDS and TB patients.
Strategy 2: To improve access and quality of nutrition services at facility and community levels.
• Support institutional feeding:
o Procure equipment for nutrition management like weighing scales, MUAC tapes, height meters, demonstration meters and food preparation equipment.
o Conduct pre- and in-service training for service providers to promote nutrition interventions.
o Develop curricula and training manuals for nutrition training.
o Determine the human resource needs for nutrition services.
o Train trainers and equip the VHTs, community resource persons and other community based organizations with nutrition knowledge and skills.
o Provide technical support supervision and mentoring of health workers.
o Support nutrition response in emergency
Strategy 3: To review, formulate, enforce and coordinate nutrition related policies, regulations, standards and programmes in consultation with other relevant sector stakeholders.
• Develop and disseminate nutrition policy and implementation guidelines:
o Initiate the review and up-date of the 2002 Uganda National Food and Nutrition Policy.
o Develop implementation guidelines for the reviewed Uganda National Food and Nutrition Policy and other related nutrition policies.
o Orient stakeholders on the revised Uganda National Food and Nutrition Policy.
• Strengthen nutrition related standards and regulations:
o Review the regulations on salt iodization.
o Review regulations on maternity protection.
o Support the development of the Codex on complementary foods and food supplements.
o Develop a regulatory framework for food fortification.
• Strengthening inter-sectoral collaboration and public-private partnership in the designing and implementation of nutrition programs:
o Operationalise the National Food and Nutrition Council and its secretariat.
o Conduct national, regional and district coordination and planning meetings.
Strategy 4: To strengthen advocacy and social mobilization for behavioural change.
• Strengthen advocacy, social mobilization and communication at all levels:
o Develop a comprehensive nutrition communication strategy.
o Develop and disseminate nutrition IEC materials using mass media including audio, visual and print media.
o Promote nutrition campaign initiatives.
Strategy 5: Strengthen nutrition information management systems for monitoring and evaluating nutrition interventions programs.
• Strengthen the regular collection of nutrition indicators in HMIS and other systems:
o Operationalise the Uganda Nutrition Information System.
o Establish nutrition sentinel sites to assess nutrition trends.
o Conduct basic and operational nutrition research.
o Collaborating with UBOS in collection of nutrition indicators during annual food consumption surveys.
o Conduct periodic nutrition surveys.