"Karamoja already suffers from the highest levels of malnutrition in Uganda and given the poor 2004 harvest, we are greatly concerned about the fate of the hundreds of thousands of people there who risk running out of food before the next harvest in September," WFP director for Uganda Ken Noah Davies said in the statement in which he announced a $6.8-million relief operation for the next six months.

The worst affected area is Karamoja region, comprising Moroto, Kotido and Nakapiripirit districts, which "has been hit by drought every five years since 1980," the statement said.
An inter-agency survey carried out last year showed that the region's average malnutrition rate of 18.7 percent and mortality rate of 3.9 per 10,000 people per day are well above the rates in other regions in Uganda, including camps for the internally displaced.

A second assessment carried out in August by WFP and other agencies, the Office of the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Agriculture confirmed three consecutive months (June-August) of below normal rainfall, low crop production and consequently a slow onset of drought.

To avert hunger and malnutrition, especially among children under five, schoolchildren, the elderly and pregnant and breast-feeding mothers, WFP has begun distributing food in Kalapata and Nyakwae sub-counties in Kotido district, and Rupa and Nadunget in Moroto district.

To date the agency has provided a two-month ration of maize and beans to over 123,000 people.

More food will be distributed over the next six months reaching nearly 600,000 people before the September harvest.

In addition to this assistance, WFP said its food aid projects will continue to support nutrition interventions through health centres and adult education, as well as the creation of community assets.

WFP School feeding programmes in the region will ensure that pupils receive a nutritious meal at school, and that a take home ration is provided to primary school girls, who manage to attend class at least 80 percent of the school days, the UN agency said.
The $6.8 million drought relief programme in Karamoja is part of WFP Uganda's countrywide relief and recovery operation, valued at US$263 million over three years.

Currently, the agency requires an additional US$54 million to maintain its full activities from May until December 2005.

More than 1.6 million people in northern Uganda, uprooted by civil conflict in the northern region receive WFP support.