THE POLITICS OF FOOD AND THE FIGHT AGAINST HUNGER: REFLECTIONS AND LESSONS FROM UGANDA - AFRICAN JOURNAL OF FOOD, AGRICULTURE, NUTRITION AND DEVELOPMENT, VOL 14, NO 4

The Guardian's recent publication: "Why are there still so many hungry people in the world?", crucially outlines the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), while at the same time, lightly critiquing the achievements and progress made by the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). While most tend to stray towards paying close attention to the achievements made, it's just as important to study the potential improvements. It is suggested by the author of the article, Hilal Elver, "that the greatest challenge for the [...SDG's] is to eradicate poverty and hunger while maintaining sustainable food security for all in a crowded and dramatically unequal world". While the MDG's reduced poverty, they essentially failed at improving food security and nutrition because food has not been considered a human right. Elver goes onto suggest that in order for the SDG's to succeed in eliminating hunger, a shift is needed from a development model based on charity and aid, to one based on human rights reinforced by accountability mechanisms. 

Kamara et al., in their journal: "The Politics of Food and The Fight for Hunger: Reflections and Lessons From Uganda", echos Elver's views for better policy, as well the social effects associated with this issue. While Uganda can be seen as having major successes in economic progress. The country still faces substantial developmental issues, with a large percentage being that of hunger and malnutrition. This effectively creates a situation in which threatens the economic stability, essentially unraveling the hard work and progress that has been made. Civil unrest within the country is a large part of the negative externalities associated with food deprivation; and understandably so, when people become desperate they do whatever is necessary to survive. The urban poor are most affected by this, as apposed to the rural poor, who have the ability to farm and live off their land. 
  
The journal is an analysis of how Ugandan politics is being reshaped by the geopolitics of food, taking into consideration the impact of various factors such as:international food markets, population growth and increasing demand for biofuel. Further, the journal also examines other forces driving food insecurity including: changes in the weather, the growing middle-class, government policies, and the increase in urbanization. 

In summary, food insecurity is a threat that can no longer be ignored. By achieving food security, especially for the urban poor, it is an effective way of preventing further civil unrest, violence, and insecurity in Uganda. It is suggested that in order for this to occur, the government must be proactive in creating food independence and national security.


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Differential returns from globalization to women smallholder coffee and food producers in rural Uganda - African Health Sciences, Vol. 13, No. 3

The African Growth and Opportunity Act was signed into law under the former American President, Bill Clinton in 2000 and while the promises of economic stability and better working conditions sounded great, unfortunately this was not the case. The Guardian's recent publication: "Uganda has little to show for African trade agreement with the US", emphasizes this very issue, that although the African growth and Opportunity Act was a great step to diminishing the poverty-stricken communities within African countries, not much has changed since. Further, special interest is taken by the author in regards to gender inequality. This inequality of women is important when discussing working conditions in developing countries.

While the signing was an important step in gaining traction of this issue, it is by no means the first step that has been taken against inequality and poverty of workers in the developing countries of Africa. In the late 1980's, it is suggested by Kanyamurwa et al. in their journal: "Differential returns from globalization to women smallholder coffee and food producers in rural Uganda", that globalization-related measures were applied in Uganda to create a more liberal trade, as well as hopes to stimulate export in coffee and other agriculture sectors. The intention being, that doing this would not only revitalize agricultural production, but also increase the incomes of farmers and improve rural food security throughout the country. To this end, the authors' objective of the study was to explore the different effects the measures had on the health and dietary outcomes of female owners and operators of small coffee and food farms in Uganda.

The methods used in this study were of a cross- sectional comparative interview survey of 190 female coffee producers, as well as a 191 female food producers in Ntungamo district, Uganda, employing mainly quantitative methods of data collection, specifically targeting the sampled households. Three months after the original quantitative data was collected, the authors also utilized qualitative data from the same households. Extra qualitative information was collected from key informants at national, district, and community levels using qualitative interviews based on an unstructured interview guide in order to concretize the study. Using indicators of production, income, access to food and dietary patterns, women's health and health care and from the two study-groups selected from the same area, female coffee producers represented a higher level of integration into liberalized export markets.

While Uganda's economy grew exponentially throughout this period, the household economic and social gains after the liberalization of the markets  may have been less than expected. In the survey carried out, both food and coffee producers were similarly poor, involved in similar scales of production, and of the same age and education level. Yet, coffee producers had greater land and livestock ownership, greater access to inputs, higher levels of income and used a greater variety of markets than food producers. Consequently, however, they spent longer hours to obtain these economic gains, and spent more money on healthcare and food from commercial sources. Their health were similar to the food producers, but with poorer dietary outcomes and far greater food stress.

In summary, it is suggested by Kanyamurwa et al., that the small-scale women farmers who are producing food cannot rely on the economic infrastructure to give them support for sustaining meaningful levels of agricultural production. Yet, despite having higher incomes than their food producing neighbours, female farmers who are dependent on producing coffee as an export commodity cannot rely on the income made by their crops to sustain their health and nutritional wellbeing. Consequently, both groups have limited levels of autonomy to address these very crucial issues.



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Traumatic Events and Symptoms of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Amongst Sudanese Nationals, Refugees and Ugandans in the West Nile- African Health Sciences, Vol. 4, No. 2, 2004

While some might find the juxtaposition between pen and conflict abnormal, others such as the five Sudanese writers in the article: "I write to expel my fear - storytelling in the Sudans", published by The Guardian, would argue it to be the norm. It is suggested by the author of the article, Bhakti Shringarpure, that the use of writing is not only a way of connecting with others that are feeling the mental anguish of war, however, writing is also - in a sense - therapeutic. It allows for one to "expel [...their] fears" and connect with others feeling the emotional burden of a conflict-ridden society.

On the other hand, while it is important to understand the grieving process of such individuals and not to take lightly, Karunakara et al. study the issue of mental illness and conflict within Sudan, Africa, in their article "Traumatic Events and Symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Amongst Sudanese Nationals, Refugees and Ugandans in The West Nile" vol. 2 no. 4 of African Health Sciences, in hopes of better understanding how conflict and mental illness are connected. Further, they compare the traumatic experiences of Sudanese nationals and the association it has with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in three population groups in Northern Uganda and Southern Sudan.

The methods used in this study were that of both household and individual level data that was collected through a single-round cross-sectional demographic survey within the sub-countries of Yivu, Odupi and Midia, in the Northern Uganda District Arua, and Otogo, in the Yei River district of Southern Sudan. The residents were then categorized on the basis of citizenship and refugee status (read: Ugandan nationals, Sudanese nationals, or Sudanese refugees). The random sample population consisted of 3,323 adults, with a mean age of 30 years, 75 percent of which were females from 1,831 national and refugee households.

Results indicated that Sudanese refugees experienced and witnessed the highest number of traumatic events. While the witnessing of traumatic events significantly increased the chances of the establishment of PTSD in surveyed populations. Gender, age, education, as well as occupation played a significant role in the development of PTSD symptoms in patients studied. The population prevalence of PTSD was estimated to be 48% for Sudanese nationals, 46% for Sudanese refugees, and only 18% for Ugandan nationals--significantly lower than the Sudanese.

In summary, symptoms of PTSD in war-effected Sudanese populations can partly be explained by the exposure of traumatic events. While the prevalence of violence and symptoms of PTSD in refugee populations concretize the need for better overall protection and security in refugee settlements. The need is at its greatest for humanitarian agencies working in these re-settlement populations to consider the provision for mental services.

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Researchers study several cases in the 2012 Ebola hemorrhagic fever outbreak in Uganda - African Health Sciences Vol.12 No.4 #ebola #EHF

Ebola, also known as Ebola virus disease (EVD) or Ebola hemorrhagic fever (EHF) is a disease that has caused 4546 deaths in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, as the World Health Organization (WHO) indicates in a report released on Oct.25.

Uganda previously had an outbreak of Ebola hemorrhagic fever, which ended on August 2012 and resulted in 17 deaths. African Health Sciences vol.12 no.4 was published in Dec.2012 and includes "Repeated outbreaks of Viral hemorrhagic fevers in Uganada" by Mbonye et al., which aims to present an epidemiological picture of outbreaks of the Marburg virus, which is related to Ebola and also causes hemorrhagic fevers.

Hemorrhagic fevers have occurred in different parts of Uganda since an outbreak of EHF in Gulu occurred in 2000.

For this study, researchers evaluated Marburg hemorrhagic fever outbreaks that occurred in 2012 in Ibanda and Kibaale. They collected information through several case studies of how often the symptoms were distributed and the probability of cases. By Nov.12 2012, there were 9 confirmed and 5 probable cases of Marburg virus, in which 7 cases resulted in death.

From these results, researchers found there were several important questions to discuss. Some questions include: 

• How has the virus genome changed, and does this change allow it to infect many unknown hosts? 
• How can more surveillance detect infections? 
• How does the Marburg virus change the way humans interact with animals? 

The study concluded that viral hemorrhagic fever outbreaks in Uganda required further investigation and study to determine the source of the outbreaks.

Ebola Viral Hemorrhagic Disease Outbreak in West Africa- Lessons from Uganda - African Health Sciences Vol.14 No.3

Today we are featuring African Health Sciences vol. 14 no. 3.

This issue includes "Ebola Viral Hemorrhagic Disease Outbreak in West Africa- Lessons from Uganda" by Mbonye et al. Since March of 2014, the Ebola viral hemorrhagic disease has been rapidly spreading throughout Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, West Africa. The purpose of this study is to generate a better overall understanding of the disease and to further prevent contraction by comparing and contrasting this large-scale outbreak to similar outbreaks that occurred in Uganda. It is suggested that the reason for the rapid spread of Ebola in West Africa is because of the lack of understanding of the epidemic within the communities, as well as a lack of experience of healthcare workers in treating this deadly virus. The main objective of this article is to share the Uganda's experience in containing and treating Ebola in hopes lessons can be learned within West Africa. 

What was learned about Ebola viral hemorrhagic disease in Uganda was that the overall success in containing this virus was due to strong political support, effective coordination through both national, and district task forces. In addition to strong political support, success was due to a strong and active community support system, efficient resources within the community, and strong support from development partners who shared responsibility in committing the resources needed.

In summary, West African countries that are experiencing outbreaks can learn and take from Uganda's experiences in hopes of proper and effective treatment. 

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