Uganda's Refugee Healthcare Crisis: Funding Cuts Threaten Lives

Uganda has long been lauded for its open and progressive refugee policies, offering sanctuary and integration to nearly two million individuals. However, this global standing is under severe strain due to rapidly diminishing international funding.

The consequences are dire, particularly for frontline healthcare workers like Alice, a midwife in Lamwo District, whose bravery in a flood situation highlighted the precariousness of current medical provisions. Across Uganda’s refugee settlements, an estimated 60 percent of healthcare providers have been let go due to a lack of funds.

This shortfall has left a critical gap in essential services. For instance, the UNFPA identified a need for 267 midwives for emergency response, but only 23 percent of that number are currently in place. Remaining staff are overwhelmed, often managing over 100 patients daily, far exceeding safe medical standards.

Limited resources have grounded vital mobile midwifery units. When care is confined to stationary clinics, women in remote areas without transport face increased risks of complications during childbirth, with post-partum hemorrhage already being the leading cause of maternal death.

The crisis extends beyond maternal health. Clinics are facing a 30 percent shortage of basic supplies, including dignity kits and contraceptives. Furthermore, a significant reduction in funding for gender-based violence (GBV) prevention has led to the closure of safe spaces, resulting in a 32 percent rise in survivors lacking clinical or psychological support.

Teenage pregnancies are also on the rise as school fee subsidies and youth programs disappear. Girls as young as 13 are being forced into early marriage or survival sex due to the sudden loss of basic assistance.

As the international community grapples with financial constraints and reorganizes aid delivery, the article warns against creating a two-tier humanitarian system where reproductive health and protection services are deprioritized. Midwives, contraceptives, and support for GBV survivors are not luxuries but essentials that save lives.

Uganda’s exemplary refugee model requires sustained financial commitment, not just the goodwill of the host government or the resilience of its workers. Balancing the global humanitarian system’s budget on the backs of vulnerable women and girls is unacceptable. Abandoning maternal and protection services in the name of efficiency means abandoning those the system is meant to protect.

This article is based on reporting from the Daily Monitor, Uganda.