Fighting Hunger

I am sitting among 273 delegates from 19 countries at the first Uganda Action for Nutrition Congress, in Kampala. The first speaker, professor Tola Atinmo from the Federation of African Nutrition Societies noted that the US President Obama just signed a 787 BILLION dollar bail-out for the US economy . . . and asked when he could obtain a mere 10 billion dollars to bail-out the malnourished in Africa. More than 50% of Africans live on less than one dollar a day. We have heard from the USAID and WFP country directors, both articulate and compassionate men, from a UN representative and from local leaders. The guest of honor who opened the two-day meeting was the First Lady of Uganda, Janet Museveni . . . which combined with an increased terrorism alert for Uganda this week led to pretty severe security screening as we entered. The atmosphere is professional and yet passionate, a room full of African intelligentsia sprinkled with Americans and Europeans, representing governments and schools, aid agencies and hospitals, policy-makers and implementers. All are focused on the fact that Africa as a continent can not move away from being marginalized until our children are well fed. . . yet this is the only area of the world where the percentage and number of people living in extreme poverty is increasing. With 126 million undernourished children, with half of the continent's population stunted (a measure of chronic hunger), the challenges seem overwhelming.

But hope lies in the people, the champions of this cause. Most impressive so far, Dr. Stanlake Samkange. His points: our programs must be evidence-based because malnutrition has a multitude of causes and there is no single solution, success requires political will which can grow when governments realize that the cost of INaction is higher than the cost of action, and programs must build institutional capacity at all levels, especially locally.

So here I sit with Heidi our nurse, Baguma Charles our nutrition extension worker, and Scott and Stephanie our former team mates who have returned to academic public health in the US. And I pause to breath in the beauty of this diverse role in life we have as missionaries. We work hands-on at the grass roots level, we channel charitable gifts from the US as well as UN-provided food, we coordinate and partner with the government's ministry of health and with community organizations, and we invite the investigation and innovation of the researchers. Few people have the privilege of that combination, daily contact with the hungry, some responsibility for policy and planning, and the stimulating opportunity for advancement of knowledge. Praying that this congress gives us solid science for doing good, and creative ideas for helping others.