Improving Nutrition in East Africa’s Bread Basket

Improving nutrition is among the most transformative and cost-effective interventions in global health and food security. Nutrition investments, particularly in the 1,000-day window from pregnancy to a child’s second birthday, can prevent the lifelong consequences of childhood malnutrition and enable children to grow into healthy, educated, productive adults. As the single largest donor to global nutrition efforts, the United States plays an important role in helping countries improve the health and nutrition status of their populations. Uganda is a focus for major presidential and other U.S. development assistance initiatives and a U.S. Agency for International Development priority country for maternal and child health and nutrition. While Uganda has made steady progress in improving food and nutrition security over the last three decades, progress has been slow, and malnutrition levels remain alarming. To understand lessons from the country’s recent experience, a research team from the CSIS Global Health Policy Center and the CSIS Global Food Security Project visited Uganda in April 2018. This report examines U.S. support for nutrition in Uganda and lays out six broad policy options for U.S. policymakers to consider.

Cathryn Streifel is associate director of the CSIS Global Health Policy Center. Reid Hamel is a senior associate (non-resident) with the CSIS Global Food Security Project. Sara M. Allinder is executive director and senior fellow with the CSIS Global Health Policy Center.

This report is made possible by the generous support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.