The study identified missed opportunity to prevent mild
to moderate PEM from progressing to SAM by examining
the observed children and comparing the nutritional
diagnosis of the health workers with that of the
researchers. As per the diagnoses got from the children’s
books, 144 (64%) of them were diagnosed with malaria
and respiratory tract infections which is understandable
since they are the commonest diseases at health centers
and malaria is responsible for more illnesses and death
than any other single disease in Uganda (UDHS, 2006).
Only 21 (9%) of the children were diagnosed with
malnutrition by the health workers which is low since in
Uganda, 47% children under 5 years are stunted, 7% are
wasted and 17% are under weight (UDHS, 2011). The
researchers diagnosed 42 (18.7%) children with under