Although substantial progress has been made against anemia in Uganda, it still exists as a sizable public health problem, especially amongst women of reproductive age and children under 5. To reinvigorate efforts to reduce anemia, SPRING facilitated a two-day meeting in Kampala that brought together almost 100 national and district stakeholders.
The first component of the meeting included presentations on anemia programming from the Office of the Prime Minister, Ministry of Health Nutrition Unit, Ministry of Agriculture, National Malaria Control Programme, Community Health Department, and the National Medical Stores. SPRING helped set the stage by giving an overview of the multi-faceted nature of anemia. SPRING also presented findings on trends in anemia prevalence in Uganda to emphasize the size of the problem and the need for cooperation across sectors. The second component involved taking that knowledge and applying it towards a structured National Anemia Action Plan.
The Anemia Action Plan will build on the momentum developed during the Stakeholders Meeting and will be rolled out over the next several months. SPRING, in partnership with key contact points within the individual Ministries, will monitor the policy process to ensure the enthusiasm around combating anemia will not be lost.