Even though twice better than Karamoja Sub-Region, the poorest sub-region in the Country, overall, and on average, only 39.8% of households in Madi Sub-Region are food secure. This is generally the status quo throughout the sub-region, with exception of Moyo District.

The state of food security in Madi, by district, and in order of the most food secure is as follows:

• 54.4% of households in Moyo District are food secure.
• 36.0% of households in Adjumani District are food secure.
• 28.9% of households in Obongi District are food secure.

With a population of over 553 thousand, it means thousands of people of Madi have difficulties accessing sufficient food. They experience:

“Frequent and prolonged periods of insufficient food intake due to lack of money and other resources, forcing members of those households to skip meals or go an entire day without a meal.”

An “IPC Acute Food Insecurity and Acute Malnutrition Analysis, July 2024-June 2025,” published on reliefweb, gives qualitative insights into why low household food security in Adjumani and Obongi:

Climate change, reduced humanitarian food aid, and the high concentration of refugees.

The sate of food security in Madi is consistent with the finding that 12.3% of persons aged 10 years and above in Madi have “probable general psychological distress;” which is a 0.3 higher than the national average which is 12.0%.

Be that as it may, the people of Madi, as is the case for the entire West Nile, have a life expectancy of 75 years, three years less than the highest regional life expectancy – 78 years in Teso Sub-Region.

Information herein is extracted from the most recent Uganda National Population and Household Census Report, by the Uganda Bureau of Statistics. A PDF copy of the report is available to download free here.

Uganda Bureau of Statistics measures food poverty using the Food Insecurity Experience Scale.

The state of food security in Madi, indeed, justifies the joint intervention of the Canadian Physicians for Aid and Relief (CPAR) and CPAR Uganda, the Dr. Paul Hargrave Memorial Center Human Development Project that is intended to benefit disadvantaged communities of Greater Northern Uganda, of which Acholi is among.

To LEARN MORE about the work of CPAR Uganda and MAKE A DONATION click here.