Legal Practitioners Join Movement to Promote Policies for Healthy Diets and Physical Activity to Prevent NCDs
- April 21, 2021
- Posted by: cefrohtadmin
- Category: Advocacy

The Centre for Food and Adequate Living Rights (CEFROHT), with support from the International Development Law Organization (IDLO), is implementing a subproject under the Global RECAP initiative to advance healthy diets through legal empowerment and social accountability mechanisms. The project employs a human rights-based, participatory, and multi-sectoral approach, aiming to foster an enabling environment for regulatory and fiscal measures that promote healthier dietary habits.
The initiative comes amid growing concerns over the global rise in diet-related non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Overweight conditions and associated NCDs contribute to approximately 4 million deaths annually, largely driven by unhealthy lifestyle choices, including diets high in fats, sugar, and salt. According to the World Health Organization’s 2018 NCD Uganda Country Profile, NCDs account for 33% of all deaths in Uganda.
Key policy areas under the Global RECAP framework include:
- Nutrition labeling
- Restricting marketing of unhealthy foods to children
- Fiscal policies to discourage consumption of harmful products
- Promotion of physical activity
To strengthen legal advocacy in this sector, the Uganda Law Society (ULS), CEFROHT, and the Advocacy Working Group (AWG) developed a Simplified Legal Empowerment Module (SLEM), now adopted as a training manual for legal practitioners in continuing legal education.
Recently, CEFROHT, in collaboration with ULS and AWG, trained 32 legal practitioners on the regulatory and legal frameworks governing healthy diets and nutrition labeling. The training, officiated by the ULS Vice President, equipped participants with advocacy skills and human rights-based approaches to advance fiscal and regulatory measures for healthier lifestyles.
The workshop featured presentations, group discussions, and interactive breakout sessions. Pre- and post-training assessments revealed a significant knowledge increase among participants, from an average of 40% to 75% comprehension.
Additionally, CEFROHT partnered with ULS to train lawyers from the ULS-Food and Nutrition Committee (FNC), enhancing their legal and reporting skills to advocate for policies that support healthy diets.
This initiative marks a critical step in mobilizing legal expertise to combat NCDs through policy reform, ensuring long-term public health benefits.