1. Presentation during the Global Week of Action 7th May 2015, Hotel Africana
Presented by Ayiga Patrick Obita
Programme Manager
World Vision Mpigi Cluster / Patrick_obita@wvi.org / 0755 000971
Community Management of Malnutrition using the Positive Deviance
Model
PD/Hearth is an internationally proven community-based program aimed at
strengthening existing nutrition interventions, rehabilitating the malnourished to
reduce levels of childhood malnutrition, and promoting the normal development
of children within the community.
PD/Hearth is based on the principle that the solution to community problems
already exists within the community and just needs to be discovered. Solutions
from within the community are more sustainable than those brought into the
community from the outside. It utilizes knowledge from within the community for
successfully treating and preventing malnutrition and spreads that knowledge
throughout the community.
Implementation of the Positive Deviance Hearth Model in Mpigi
district
Strengthening Partnerships Research and Innovations for Improved Nutrition
(SPIN) is a nutrition Project which is being implemented in Mpigi district. The
SPIN project is a preventive and supportive initiative with a goal of “improving the
nutritional status of children under five years in four sub-counties in Mpigi district
by 2016.” The SPIN project is designed to contribute to the Uganda Nutrition
Action Plan (UNAP) by targeting the first 1000 days of life.
To be able to achieve this, the project is implementing a number of nutrition and
health models and one of them is the positive deviance model in the sub-county
of Buwama. During the implementation of the model the SPIN project has been
able to conduct assessed in communities in Buwama and through that 1557
children under the age of five were reached and out of those 803 children were
found to be malnourished.
Of the 803 children that were found to be malnourished 77 children had severe
acute malnutrition and were referred for further management. 323 children had
moderate and mild underweight and were managed through the positive deviance
approach at community level in hearth sessions.