Essential Nutrition and Child Health in Uganda: A Research Project to Promote Innovative Community-based and Clinical Actions

Research area(s):

Project start:
01.01.2002

Project end:
01.12.2006

Co-ordinators:
Tylleskär, Thorkild

Institutions:
Centre for International Health, University of Bergen

Funding source(s):
NUFU (The Norwegian Council for Higher Education’s Programme for Development Research and Education),

Project description:
In Uganda, malnutrition and HIV/AIDS remain serious challenges. Almost 40% of children are stunted, and 14% of pregnant women are HIV infected, while a third of their children acquire HIV perinatally.
In order to address these challenges, there is need for innovative and evidence-based interventions, which unfortunately, remain elusive. There is also a serious shortage of sufficiently qualified staff to carry out graduate training and quality research.
This Makerere-Bergen collaborative project aims to carry out research to address these issues, and bolster the capacity of the Makerere Faculty of Medicine.
Four main study areas are:
1. Impact of different feeding options for infants of HIV-infected mothers since almost 20% of transmission is via breast milk.
2. Develop options for management of severe malnutrition in health units and the community given the high cost of current options for management of protein-energy malnutrition.
3. The role of micronutrient supplements in preventing malnutrition, morbidity and mortality in HIV-positive children.
4. An appraisal of the WHO/UNICEF ’Integrated Management of Childhood Illness’ with particular emphasis on community-based approaches, participatory learning action and their impact on nutrition and health.

Countries:
Uganda

Link to webpage:
http://fm.siu.no/NufuProjects/FMPro?-db=project.fp5&-format=projectdetalj.htm&-lay=presentation%5fweb&-sortfield=title&programID=NUFU&partner%202%3a%3acountry=%22%22&partner%202%3a%3auniName=Universit