During the Advocacy Community Dialogue at Nakawa Division Headquarters, held in commemoration of Uganda Water Week, stakeholders urged the government to prioritize funding for the Water, Sanitation, Hygiene, and Nutrition (WASH-N) sector.
The Dialogue was organized by the Right2Grow programme led by Community integrated development initiatives-CIDI and The Hunger Project.
Under the theme “Clean Water, Safe Food, Healthy Lives: Linking WASH and Nutrition for Community Resilience” the dialogue brought together representatives from the Ministry of Water and Environment, National Water and Sewerage Corporation, KCCA, Buganda Kingdom’s Department of Environment, Right2Grow consortium partners, local political leaders, and youth advocacy groups.
Hellen Kasujja, the Deputy Director of Community Integrated Development Initiatives (CIDI), emphasized the urgent need for coordinated efforts and increased financing in WASH-N sectors.
“We are almost moving to alarming states, and we have portions of this country that still have acute food crisis, food insecurity, but also acute malnutrition and stunting for children under fire. So our call to action to government is to be able to allocate resources that are meaningful,” she said.
Kasujja highlighted concerning statistics about sanitation in Uganda, revealing that 57.91% of Ugandans lack access to improved sanitation. She further pointed out that 10% of urban residents and 23% of rural populations still practice open defecation due to inadequate sanitation facilities.
Additionally, 8% of breastfeeding women do not have access to hand washing facilities. She also noted that 17% of healthcare facilities in Uganda have no access to safe water, with 81% having limited sanitation, 10% lacking sanitation entirely, and 31% lacking environmental cleanliness.
Kasujja also pointed to Uganda’s low ranking on the Global Hunger Index, with a score of 27.3, signaling serious food insecurity.
“Uganda is a country blessed with good weather and multiple rainy seasons, yet we continue to struggle with hunger and malnutrition. Without proper sanitation and access to clean water, the cycle of disease and poor nutrition worsens, affecting economic productivity,” she remarked.
She however called for the establishment of district-level nutrition coordination committees, especially in urban areas, and the activation of public health inspections at homes and food selling points to ensure hygiene, food safety, and the availability of toilets.
Evelyn Zalwango, Project Coordinator for the Right2Grow program under CIDI, reinforced the connection between poor WASH conditions and malnutrition. “Over 300,000 children in Uganda are severely malnourished,” she revealed.
She cited World Health Organization research showing that half of the world’s cases of undernutrition are linked to inadequate water and sanitation.
Zalwango further emphasized the importance of simple hygiene practices, such as hand washing, and urged the reinstatement of habits that improved during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“At this dialogue, we have been trying to look at the nexus between WASH and nutrition, poor nutrition, or malnutrition is highly linked to poor WASH statuses,” she said.
The dialogue also addressed solid waste management, access to clean water in health facilities, and water service affordability.
Participants proposed community-led reporting systems to hold both citizens and authorities accountable for waste disposal and water maintenance.
Nakawa Mayor Paul Mugambe, who was the chief guest emphasized the importance of prioritizing prevention over treatment! “Let’s focus on keeping people healthy, not just treating them when they’re sick,” he said.
Geoffrey Luyombya, Speaker of the Nakawa Division Urban Council, praised CIDI for empowering local leadership and the community on WASH and nutrition.
“CIDI always organizes quarterly sensitizations to see how best we can address the issues of WASH in our community, if you do not address hygiene in your community, if you do not address the issue of access to clean and safe water, it will always end up into us registering quite a number of diseases,” he said.
Luyombya called on leaders to engage directly in initiatives for better water, sanitation, and hygiene, and urged community members to be ambassadors of good hygiene.
The dialogue highlighted the need for the government to allocate sufficient resources to these sectors, noting that investing in health-related interventions like WASH-N could yield over four times its value in economic returns. Kasujja concluded, “Every dollar invested in health-related interventions, you’re going to get $4.3 in terms of return.”
