NU researcher earns $100,000 grant to help South Sudanese refugees
Nipissing University has been awarded a $100,000 grant from Grand Challenges Canada to help improve maternal, newborn and child health among South Sudanese Refugees and their host communities in Uganda.
Dr. Odwa Atari, associate professor of geography, is the project lead on the grant-winning project.
Goals of the project include providing access to a cooperative store, community health workers, health products and services; information on gender equality, gender-based violence, sexually transmitted infections, and mental health; and reducing acute child malnutrition by at least 2% (from 9.4%), anemia among refugee children to 30% (from 40%); and the number of South Sudanese refugee children in need of mental health care to 55% (from 60%).
Currently, Uganda is hosting about 1 million South Sudanese refugees many of whom are vulnerable women and children who have witnessed or experienced some forms of violence. As numbers of refugees surge due to the ongoing insecurity and famine in South Sudan, and reduced international funding, refugees have witnessed cuts in their food rations and essential health services affecting the livelihood and wellbeing of the most vulnerable women and unaccompanied children.
Dr. Atari’s innovative program has two aspects: a cooperative system that delivers alternative livelihood schemes for refugees and their host communities to cope with the changing economic realities; and a community health workers (CHW) program to promote essential health education and services for the most vulnerable members their society.
A cooperative store will be opened and stocked with essential food, health, feminine and household products that will be sold at reduced market prices while providing relevant health information to support livelihood and wellbeing. Mobile CHWs will promote health visits and education, and sell cooperative products through door to door sales while encouraging trauma counseling, especially for expected teen mothers and those who may not be able to visit the store due to disabilities.
The majority of South Sudanese refugees in Uganda are poor women and unaccompanied children. Unlike their counterparts who live in urban areas, the refugees who live in settlements are the most marginalized poor who depend mainly on handouts from international and local organizations. This project is focused on the poorest women and children living in the camps and how to uplift them from poverty with the provision of alternative livelihood schemes to improve maternal, newborn and child health.
Grand Challenges Canada is dedicated to supporting bold ideas with big impact. Funded by the Government of Canada and other partners, Grand Challenges Canada supports innovators in low- and middle-income countries and Canada. The bold ideas Grand Challenges Canada supports integrate science and technology, social and business innovation – known as Integrated Innovation. One of the largest impact-first investors in Canada, and with a feminist investment approach, Grand Challenges Canada has supported a pipeline of over 1,000 innovations in more than 90 countries. Grand Challenges Canada estimates that these innovations have the potential to save up to 1 million lives and improve up to 28 million lives by 2030. Find out more: www.grandchallenges.ca