The mobile nutrition and health clinic is designed to deliver screenings, fortified meals, and hygiene education to some of Karamoja’s most hard-to-reach villages.
Nakapiripirit, Uganda: State Minister for Gender and Culture, Peace Regis Mutuuzo, on Thursday, flagged off the Nutri-School Bus in a colourful ceremony marked by traditional dances and cheers from the community.
“This mobile clinic is a beacon of hope,” Minister Mutuuzo declared as she waved off the bus. “It will deliver life-saving screenings and nourishment to our most distant communities.”
The initiative, a partnership between the Ministry of Health and the World Food Programme (WFP), was praised for its integrated approach to tackling malnutrition. James Kingori, Head of the WFP Karamoja Area Office, noted: “By combining systematic growth monitoring with hot, locally sourced meals, we’re not only fighting malnutrition but also empowering families to make healthier choices every day.”
According to Dr. Sarah Nakanwagi from the Ministry of Health, real-time data collected during screenings will enable swift follow-up care and immunization drives where they are needed most.
Since its launch, the bus’s health team has been conducting mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) measurements under shade trees and distributing ready-to-use therapeutic foods to children in need. Severe cases are immediately referred to nearby health centres to ensure no child is left unattended.
Inside the mobile clinic, nutrition educators engage mothers in practical sessions on balanced diets, handwashing, and household hygiene. Demonstrations include simple recipes like fortifying porridge with groundnuts and leafy greens. Each lesson concludes with an interactive Q&A session, reinforcing practices families can adopt even after the bus moves on.
Weekly coordination meetings involving WFP, Ministry of Health, and district health officials are planned to assess community data, review attendance, and map areas needing urgent interventions such as supplementary feeding or immunization outreach.
A nurse working with the project in Kaabong reflected on its impact: “When I see a child’s colour brighten after just a week of fortified meals, it reminds me why we endure the long drives and broken roads.”
With routes already planned for Kotido and Napak, partners are working to integrate mobile nutrition clinics into district health budgets and scale up the model across other underserved regions.
At every stop, the Nutri-School Bus is not just feeding children—it is reshaping how primary health and nutrition services reach Uganda’s most vulnerable.
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