UGANDA: Food prospects improve in Karamoja

"The Karamoja region of northeastern Uganda is often associated with chronic food shortages, malnutrition and poverty, but the area is unlikely to suffer a food crisis in the coming months, officials and aid workers said...But this year, July rains have been average in Moroto, according to the Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development. The crop condition has been generally good, with sorghum gardens showing 60.9 percent of the crop in a good condition, 19.6 percent in a fair state and 19.5 percent in poor condition. The maize was 54 percent good, 19.4 percent fair and 25.8 percent poor, it said in a statement...Malnutrition rates, however, remain high, according to a May report by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), the government and the NGO Action Against Hunger. It found global acute malnutrition (GAM) prevalence of up to 20.4 percent and severe acute malnutrition (SAM) at 5.6 percent in Nakapiripirit district. Overall, the region had GAM prevalence of 12.8 percent and SAM of 2.8 percent."