Browsing by Author "Diiro, Gracious M."

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    Food And Nutrition Status Of Households With Women Living With HIV In Uganda
    (Scientific African, 2020) Nakakawa, Frances; Mugisha, Johnny; Diiro, Gracious M.; Kaaya, Archeleo N.; Tumwesigye, Nazarious M.
    This study utilised a national dataset collected from women living with HIV/AIDS in Uganda to understand the Food and Nutrition Security (FNS) status among their households. Descriptive analytical methods were employed to characterise the households in relation to selected domains of FNS- access and utilization. Overall, results indicate that majority (69.3%) of the women in the sample had a normal BMI which could imply good food utilization and thus good FNS and; 22.1% were above the normal range, which could imply they were overweight. However, this may not be entirely true as one could have a normal BMI but have a “hidden hunger” which relates to micronutrient deficiencies. Given the status of the women under study especially those on antiretroviral drugs side effects of weight gain may be experience which could be misconceived as “good nutrition”. Female headed households were reported to be more vulnerable to FNS given the registered low dietary and higher shares of food expenditure on incomes. Similarly, households in the central and western regions reported better physical food access but poor economic food access while the reverse was true for the households in the Northern region. Ironically, urban households registered a low food insecurity in relation to share of food expenditure. As such, it is recommended that intervention strategies for improving food and nutrition security among vulnerable groups should not be a “blanket” or uniform but some categories should be given priority; for instance, HIV+ headed households and urban households.
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    The role of camel production on household resilience to droughts in pastoral and agro-pastoral households in Uganda
    (Pastoralism, 2020) Asiimwe, Robert; Ainembabazi, John Herbert; Egeru, Anthony; Isoto, Rosemary; Aleper, Daniel Knox; Namaalwa, Justine; Diiro, Gracious M.
    Recurrent and prolonged droughts have exacerbated the problems of pasture and water scarcity in arid and semiarid lands (ASALs), hence, the need for immediate and long-term adaption strategies to such shocks. Camels are increasingly being integrated into mainstream livestock production systems as an adaptation strategy to droughts. However, rigorous empirical evidence remains scarce on the role of camel-rearing in household resilience to droughts. This study used cross-sectional data from 116 households in the Karamoja sub-region of Uganda to examine the effect of camel adoption on household resilience to drought. Resilience to drought was measured as an index constructed from consumption- and income-smoothing indicators using the principal component analysis (PCA) method. The effect of camel adoption on household resilience to droughts was estimated using Lewbel’s estimator. Descriptive statistics show that camel tropical livestock units (TLUs) constituted 25% of the total TLUs of the herd among adopting households. PCA analysis shows that income-smoothing factors (increased off-farm income and alternative sources of income) had the greatest contribution to resilience. Econometric results show that a unit increase in the proportion of camel TLUs significantly increased household resilience to droughts by 20%. The study recommends increased emphasis on income diversification both on-farm and off-farm across programmes that aim to build pastoral household resilience to droughts.