Vogt Line Erikstad, Rukooko Byaruhanga, Iversen Per Ole, Eide Wenche Barth
Department of Nutrition, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
School of Liberal and Performing Arts, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.
BMC Int Health Hum Rights. 2016 Mar 18;16:10. doi: 10.1186/s12914-016-0086-y.
More than 14 % of Ugandan children are orphaned and many live in children's homes. Ugandan authorities have targeted adolescent girls as a priority group for nutrition interventions as safeguarding nutritional health before pregnancy can reduce the chance of passing on malnutrition to the offspring and thus future generations. Ugandan authorities have obligations under international human rights law to progressively realise the rights to adequate food, health and care for all Ugandan children. Two objectives guided this study in children's homes: (a) To examine female adolescent residents' experiences, attitudes and views regarding: (i) eating patterns and food, (ii) health conditions, and (iii) care practices; and (b) to consider if the conditions in the homes comply with human rights standards and principles for the promotion of the rights to adequate food, health and care.
A human rights-based approach guided the planning and conduct of this study. Five children's homes in Kampala were included where focus group discussions were held with girls aged 12-14 and 15-17 years. These discussions were analysed through a phenomenological approach. The conditions of food, health and care as experienced by the girls, were compared with international standards for the realisation of the human rights to adequate food, health and care.
Food, health and care conditions varied greatly across the five homes. In some of these the girls consumed only one meal per day and had no access to clean drinking water, soap, toilet paper and sanitary napkins. The realisation of the right to adequate food for the girls was not met in three homes, the realisation of the right to health was not met in two homes, and the realisation of the right to care was not met in one home.
In three of the selected children's homes human rights standards for food, health or care were not met. Care in the children's homes was an important contributing factor for whether standards for the rights to adequate food and health were met.
超过14%的乌干达儿童成为孤儿，许多儿童生活在儿童之家。乌干达当局将青春期女孩作为营养干预的优先群体，因为在怀孕前保障营养健康可以减少将营养不良传给后代乃至子孙后代的几率。根据国际人权法，乌干达当局有义务逐步实现所有乌干达儿童获得充足食物、健康和照料的权利。本研究在儿童之家设定了两个目标：(a) 考察青春期女性居民对以下方面的经历、态度和看法：(i) 饮食模式和食物，(ii) 健康状况，以及(iii) 照料措施；(b) 考量儿童之家的条件是否符合促进充足食物权、健康权和照料权的人权标准和原则。
本研究的规划和实施采用基于人权的方法。纳入了坎帕拉的五所儿童之家，与12至14岁和15至17岁的女孩进行了焦点小组讨论。通过现象学方法对这些讨论进行了分析。将女孩们所经历的食物、健康和照料条件与实现充足食物权、健康权和照料权的国际标准进行了比较。
五所儿童之家的食物、健康和照料条件差异很大。在其中一些儿童之家里，女孩们每天只吃一顿饭，无法获得清洁饮用水、肥皂、卫生纸和卫生巾。三所儿童之家未实现女孩获得充足食物的权利，两所儿童之家未实现健康权，一所儿童之家未实现照料权。
在所选定的三所儿童之家中，食物、健康或照料方面的人权标准未得到满足。儿童之家的照料情况是能否满足充足食物权和健康权标准的一个重要因素。
