Prudence Ainomugisha is a PhD Fellow on the Healthy Soy: Climate-Resilient Soybean for Improved Growth and Health of Children in Uganda project. Her research sits at the intersection of climate change, agriculture, and child nutrition, addressing how climate-resilient food systems can improve growth and health outcomes among vulnerable children in Uganda.

Climate change is increasingly threatening food systems in Uganda through prolonged droughts, erratic rainfall, and declining crop yields. These environmental pressures contribute to food insecurity and undernutrition, particularly among smallholder farming households. In Uganda, approximately 26% of children under five years are affected by stunting, a form of chronic undernutrition associated with impaired physical growth, delayed cognitive development, increased morbidity, and reduced economic productivity later in life.

Soybean is widely grown in Uganda and represent a promising, affordable plant-based protein source. However, climate stress may reduce yields and negatively affect protein quality while increasing antinutrient levels such as phytic acid and trypsin inhibitors, which reduce protein digestibility and mineral bioavailability. There is, therefore, a critical need to develop climate-resilient soybean varieties with high protein and low antinutrient content, alongside optimized local processing methods to improve nutritional value.

Prudence’s PhD research focuses on a randomized controlled trial assessing the effect of locally produced soy-based lipid-based nutrient supplements (LNS) on linear growth, body composition, and health-related biomarkers among children with stunting. Her work contributes to generating evidence on whether optimally processed soy protein can effectively support catch-up growth and improve child health outcomes in climate-vulnerable settings.