Uganda links breastfeeding to NCD prevention as nutrition model targets unhealthy foods

11 August 2026, 3:30 pm

By Byamukama Alozious

Uganda is stepping up efforts to improve infant and maternal nutrition while tackling the growing burden of diet-related non-communicable diseases (NCDs), with the Ministry of Health urging communities, employers and health facilities to create an environment that supports breastfeeding and healthier diets.

Speaking at a media breakfast promoting breastfeeding, Dr Daniel Kyabayinze, Director of Public Health at the Ministry of Health, said breastfeeding should no longer be viewed as an issue concerning only mothers and their babies, but as a wider national and community public-health concern.

He said breastfeeding provides children with important protection against infections, undernutrition and malnutrition and contributes to healthier growth, while good nutrition early in life can also help reduce the risk of NCDs later in life.

“Breastfeeding is a national concern. It is not just about the mother and the child; the whole community has a role to play,” Kyabayinze said.

The Ministry is now linking breastfeeding promotion with a broader nutrition agenda as Uganda faces increasing availability and consumption of processed and ultra-processed foods.

The new National Nutrient Profile Model (NPM) is intended to provide a scientific basis for identifying foods and drinks that contain excessive levels of nutrients associated with poor health outcomes.

The model focuses on nutrients and ingredients of public-health concern, including free sugars, sodium, total fat, saturated fat, trans-fat and non-sugar sweeteners, with caffeine also included among the criteria presented by nutrition stakeholders.

Under the thresholds presented for the model, a solid food is considered to have excessive levels where free sugars provide at least 10 per cent of total energy, sodium is at least 1 milligram per kilocalorie, total fat provides at least 30 per cent of total energy, saturated fat at least 10 per cent, and trans-fat at least 1 per cent. For liquids, the free-sugar threshold is at least 5 per cent of total energy.

The model comes as evidence presented to stakeholders shows widespread levels of nutrients of concern in processed foods on the Ugandan market.

A 2024 landscape survey cited during the discussions found that 38 per cent of processed foods were high in total fat, 46 per cent exceeded the saturated-fat threshold, 48 per cent contained excessive free sugars, 8 per cent were high in trans-fats and 56 per cent exceeded the safe sodium limit.

The findings, according to nutrition advocates, demonstrate the need for stronger regulatory measures to protect consumers, particularly children, from unhealthy food environments.

Nakiito Peace, an advocate and representative of the Center for Food and Adequate Living Rights (CEFROHT), said the NPM is grounded in scientific and legal evidence and is intended to support public-health action on unhealthy food products.

The model is expected to help guide decisions on food products and their promotion in settings where children and the wider public are exposed to food, including schools, hospitals and other public institutions.

The concern is not simply what people eat, but the increasingly easy availability and promotion of foods high in salt, sugar and unhealthy fats.

High sodium intake is associated with increased blood pressure and a higher risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke. Excessive free-sugar consumption contributes to unhealthy weight gain, obesity and dental disease, while diets high in saturated and trans-fats increase cardiovascular risks.

The Ministry of Health has already identified nutrition as a major public-health priority. In April 2026, it launched the Nutrition for All campaign, focusing particularly on nutrition during the first 1,000 days of a child’s life and stressing that nutrition requires action beyond the health sector alone.

Kyabayinze said breastfeeding forms part of this early-life intervention because it helps protect children against infections and different forms of malnutrition.

However, health officials and advocates say mothers continue to face barriers to breastfeeding, particularly when they return to work.

Dr Laura Ahumuza, a Senior Nutritionist at the Ministry of Health, said the Government is working to strengthen policies and systems that protect mothers and children, especially in workplaces.

One of the key challenges is the implementation of workplace breastfeeding support.

Uganda’s Employment (Amendment) Act, 2026, inserted Section 56A into the Employment Act. The provision requires every employer to make available at the workplace time, space or a facility for breastfeeding and childcare for employees’ children aged three to six months. It also provides for the Minister to prescribe operational standards for such facilities.

Ahumuza said some workplaces and structures were not originally designed with breastfeeding mothers in mind, creating practical challenges for women who want to continue breastfeeding after returning to work.

Health officials and advocates are calling for stronger capacity-building for health workers, better breastfeeding education before and during service, enforcement of regulations governing the marketing of breast-milk substitutes, expansion of the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative and wider breastfeeding campaigns.

The push comes against a backdrop of Uganda’s continuing nutrition challenges, where undernutrition and malnutrition coexist with rising exposure to unhealthy diets.

The Ministry therefore sees breastfeeding promotion and regulation of unhealthy foods as complementary interventions: one seeks to give children a healthier start in life, while the other seeks to create a food environment that reduces exposure to products capable of contributing to obesity, hypertension, diabetes and other NCDs.

Uganda’s Public Health Act gives the Minister powers to make rules for the preservation of health and prevention of disease, including rules concerning the manufacture, preparation, storage, inspection and sale of food intended for consumption. The current version of the Act incorporates amendments made in 2023.

For Uganda, the emerging approach therefore goes beyond telling individuals to “eat well” or mothers to “breastfeed”. It places responsibility on the Government, health facilities, employers, communities, food producers and the media to create conditions that make healthy choices easier.