Nutrition week 2026 kicks off with a call to enhance protection against unsafe food

Stakeholders in the Nutrition sub sector including Civil Society Organizations, Uganda Parliamentary Alliance on Food and Nutrition Security (UPA-FNC), Local District Leaders among others in a bold move have come together to drum up a renewed commitment to embrace nutrition programs especially school feeding programs, improved financing and other interventions.  

The 5th Parliamentary Nutrition Week 2026 running from 22nd to 25th May2026 will be held in Iganga district in Busoga region aimed at enhanced sensitivity to be local population and schools countrywide where there is a reported higher challenge 9f malnutrition.

Hon. Peter Okeyo 

During the launch of the week at Golden Tulip on Friday 22nd May2026, The Vice Chairperson of UPA-FNS Hon. Peter Okeyo for Bukholi islands in Namayingo district highlighted that in order to address the alarming situation of lack of food at schools, there is need to boost investment in the schools feeding program to boost academic performance.  

He called upon stakeholders including school heads, parents, teachers, CSOs, parliament to embrace the nutrition problem through supporting nutrition initiatives.

“Nutrition is key in schools to raise academic performance in schools especially those in Busoga that has been reported as having the highest rate of malnutrition. Lets raise awareness to all stakeholders in food nutrition” he said.

Mary Apio from PELUM Uganda

Mary Apio, Advocacy Officer from PELUM Uganda underscored the role played by Agroecology in Feeding Uganda’s children through embracing school gardens for safe foods and nutrition  

She said that despite the well-documented benefits of school feeding in boosting enrolment, attendance, retention, and learning outcomes, the reality remains that school feeding in Uganda is fragmented, underfunded, and lacks strong policy backing.

“This year’s Nutrition Week, timed to coincide with World Nutrition Day on May 28, provides a vital platform to raise awareness and galvanize action. It’s a call to all of us to work together toward meeting Sustainable Development Goal 2: Zero Hunger and Uganda’s national nutrition targets under the Uganda Nutrition Action Plan (UNAP II)” she said.

She added that “In Uganda, integrating agroecology with home-grown school feeding (HGSF) is a powerful way to make every meal count. HGSF links schools directly with local smallholder farmers who embrace agroecological farming practices”

About 67% of children in Uganda’s Universal Primary Education (UPE) schools attend classes without the benefit of a school meal. Out of over 8.2 million learners, only roughly 48,000 receive meals through government-supported programs, mostly reliant on donor-funded initiatives like those of the World Food Programme.

The first and 2nd nutrition week was held at Parliament, the 3rd week was held in western Uganda hosted by Kamwenge, and the the 4thonewas held in Karamoja sub region.