Our Work in Uganda
Uganda has approximately 4 million children with disabilities. Our research shows they have much higher rates of malnutrition than their peers.
This is not because their needs are too complex to address. It is because nutrition services were not originally designed to include them — health workers untrained, these children uncounted, caregivers left without the support they needed.
Uganda's government has decided that is not acceptable. Disability inclusive nutrition is a priority in Uganda, and the Ministry of Health has signaled that children with disabilities as a nutrition priority. They are revising acute malnutrition protocols to strengthen community-level care and elevating the Karamoja region as a national investment focus.
SPOON is translating Uganda’s commitments into services that reach every child. SPOON is working alongside the government to train health workers who deliver care, building disability-inclusive nutrition into workforce training, and ensuring hospitals can screen for malnutrition, feeding difficulties, and developmental delays. Our work is led by SPOON's Uganda Nutrition Technical Officers, who bring expertise in nutrition, disability, and early child development.
Building Uganda's First Disability-Inclusive Nutrition System
SPOON has worked in Uganda since 2018. The rates of child malnutrition and food insecurity there are among the highest in sub-Saharan Africa. With the Association of the Religious of Uganda, we began with targeted programs supporting children with disabilities living in institutions as ARU transitioned children to family care. That has since grown towards something more ambitious: the first national demonstration of a fully functioning, disability-inclusive nutrition system, connecting family homes to community health workers to clinics to hospitals to national policy.
Uganda is where the need is urgent, and the conditions are right to meet it. The government is committed to change, with strong health institutions and community partners ready to act. That combination of urgency, political will, and on-the-ground capacity is what makes national-scale transformation possible. Every step forward generates evidence that will show the world how to do this so every child thrives.
Where We Work
The change happening in Uganda belongs to the Ugandan institutions and health workers driving it. SPOON's role is to equip, support, and amplify. Our work currently operates across two regions, connected by a shared model and a shared mission.
Karamoja Region
Northeastern Uganda
One of Uganda's most remote and underserved regions, Karamoja is where community-level transformation begins. SPOON trains health workers and community health teams across four hospitals to identify children at risk, assess their feeding needs, and connect families with ongoing support.
Partner hospitals:
- St. Kizito Hospital, Matany
- Moroto Regional Referral Hospital
- Iriiri HCIV
- Nadunget HCIV
Kampala
National Capital
In Kampala, SPOON is establishing its presence at the highest levels of Uganda's health system, beginning to equip staff at Mulago National Referral Hospital and laying the groundwork for research partnerships with leading institutions.
Partner institutions:
- Ministry of Health
- Mulago National Referral Hospital
- Makerere University College of Health Sciences (Research Partner)
How the Model Works
SPOON's Model of Excellence is a disability-inclusive nutrition system that strengthens care at every level, from the family home to national policy. In Uganda, this model is being built end-to-end for the first time.
Each layer connects to the next. A child and their caregiver get help no matter what level they access care: at the community level, in a clinic, in a hospital. The system catches every child no matter where they are.
National System: Sustain + Scale
- Children with disabilities counted in national health data for the first time. Inclusive nutrition adopted by adopted by government and partners.
Hospitals: Treat + Stabilize
- Hospital staff trained and equipped to diagnose, treat, and stabilize children with complex feeding needs. Clear referral pathways ensure children reach the right level of care.
Primary Care: Assess + Plan
- Clinic-level health workers conduct routine screening and create individualized feeding support plans. Every child who comes through the door is assessed — none are turned away.
Community Health: Identify + Refer
- Trained community health workers identify children at risk before a crisis develops. They connect families to the next level of care if needed and follow up to make sure children don't fall through the cracks.
Families & Children: Thrive
- Caregivers learn safe feeding techniques. Stigma around disability begins to lift. Children who might otherwise have been separated from their families stay home — cared for, nourished, and seen.
What the Data Shows
These are not projections. This is what happens when providers are equipped and a system is designed to include every child.
Reduction in wasting with SPOON-supported care
reduction in anemia with better feeding and nutrition
assessments conducted using Count Me In
* Preliminary data from Count Me In as of June, 2026.
Join the Work
Uganda is where SPOON is proving what's possible. The model is underway and showing results. The partners are committed. The government is engaged. What makes the difference now is sustained investment.