Famine's False Comfort: Uganda's Emergency Food Aid Masks a Bigger Problem The news that Uganda has begun emergency food handouts in the drought stricken Karamoja region is welcome, but it's a Band Aid on a bullet wound.
Behind this crisis, a more insidious issue lurks: the government's inability to address poverty and environmental degradation. Nineteen reported deaths from hunger are just the tip of the iceberg.
Health facilities in Karamoja have been overwhelmed with severe malnutrition cases among children. Nearly half of the population in certain districts is facing a crisis situation, and emergency aid can only do so much.