The challenge of local implementation in Uganda's new nutrition policy

Despite presidentially endorsed, multisectoral strategies to end malnutrition, including a new national plan set for approval in a matter of weeks, stunting remains pervasive among children across Uganda, affecting almost a third of all children under 5 years old — an estimated 2.2 million, according to the U.S. Agency for International Development.
That rate has dropped gradually over the years, from 44 percent in 2010, and it is actually slightly ahead of the regional rate of 35.6 percent. But it is not falling fast enough for many children. According to experts, Uganda’s shortcomings underscore, not a policy gap, but a failure to translate those policies into more resources, better services or even higher awareness of the problem in some communities.
International agencies and NGOs have taken some of the slack, but Uganda’s struggles reflect a broader concern with a global target approaching to reduce stunting by 40 percent by 2025 rapidly: Doing so requires coordination across sectors and a willingness to push national policies to a local level that only a government can provide. What happens if that commitment, whether for political or economic reasons, never makes it past the planning stage?