In late 2017, I gathered together a dynamic team of public health and development practitioners eager to develop new tools, knowledge, ideas, and methods to improve lives in vulnerable and underserved communities across the globe. This was a result of my extensive interactions with various disenfranchised individuals and impoverished communities, and my utmost desire to help them meet their basic needs.

In 2018, despite several challenges, CenRID found many reasons and opportunities to be hopeful. We made concrete progress in achieving our goal to help vulnerable children and expectant mothers in rural Uganda meet their basic health and nutritional needs. Food insecurity remains a fundamental problem in Kamuli, Luuka, and other neighboring districts in Eastern Uganda. This leads to micronutrient deficiency and chronic undernutrition, which account for over 60 percent of deaths for children under 5. Women in Uganda also face overwhelming health inequities and this has significantly increased their risk for negative health outcomes.  

We believe women ought to be able to access basic health and support services in order to prevent diseases and develop strong self-efficacy to take control of their health and nutritional needs. ​Thus, we have focused our resources on innovative programs that offer accessible solutions to the most pressing issues critical to children’s and women’s health.  
Our ongoing Vitamins+Minerals (VM) project in Eastern Uganda seeks to reduce infant and maternal nutritional deficiencies. The project is focused on the provision of vitamin supplements and empowering communities, including education of women, to treat and prevent malnutrition.

Because of the increasing role of women in maintaining their households’ food and nutrition security, a crucial aspect of our project seeks to develop their skills and knowledge required to make informed choices around accessing the assets and services needed for improved nutrition.

Through our VM project, we have successfully provided Vitamin A to 2863 children, 429 children with urgent needs that would otherwise have been neglected, were referred and over 74 percent consequently received care at the various health centers. Over 600 expectant mothers have also been sensitized about malnutrition and given prenatal vitamins.
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Our long term commitment to ensuring the wellbeing of children and women in Eastern Uganda was reinforced last year through our active involvement in the country’s Child Day Plus (CDP) initiative.

I wish to express my sincere appreciation and gratitude to our board, leadership team, and donors for their continuous commitment and dedication to ensuring the ultimate fulfillment of our mission and vision. Improving the lives of children and women in Uganda is completely within our grasp, and we can do it. Thank you.

Nii Lantey Bortey

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