Nutritional status among landslide victims in rural Uganda

We assessed food insecurity, diet diversity, and the right to adequate food among households in communities in Eastern Uganda that were affected by major landslides in 2010 and 2018. A prospective cohort study was applied to select 422 households during May–August (the food-plenty season) of 2019. In January–March (the food-poor season) of 2020, 388 households were re-assessed. Socio-demographic, food security, diet diversity, and right to adequate food data were collected using structured questionnaires. Four focus group discussions and key informant interviews with 10 purposively sampled duty-bearers explored issues of food insecurity, diet, and the right to adequate food. The affected households had significantly higher mean (SE) food insecurity scores than controls, both during the food plenty season: 15.3 (0.5) vs. 10.8 (0.5), and during food-poor season: 15.9 (0.4) vs. 12.5 (0.0). The affected households had significantly lower mean (SE) diet diversity scores than controls during the food plenty season: 5.4 (0.2) vs. 7.5 (0.2) and during the food poor season: 5.2 (0.2) vs. 7.3 (0.1). Multivariate analyses showed that the disaster, education, and main source of livelihood, significantly predicted household food security and diet diversity during the food-plenty season whereas during the food-poor season, the disaster and education were predictors. During both food seasons, the majority of affected and control households consumed unsafe food. Cash-handout was the most preferred for ensuring the right to adequate food. Comprehension and awareness of human rights principles and state obligations were low. The severity of food-insecurity and diet diversity differed significantly between the affected and control households during both food seasons. Moreover, the right to adequate food for landslide victims was not sufficiently realized. There is a need to cater to seasonal variations, disaster effects, and the right to adequate food in order to reduce landslide victims’ vulnerability to food insecurity and poor diet diversity. The data were collected by trained fieldworkes who visited the study ares twice, 6 months apart.  More details can be found in the Method-section of the paper. The data files are in the form of Excel files.