In 2025, refugee settlements across Uganda reported more than six disease outbreaks, while stock-outs of essential medicines and medical supplies reached up to 30%, severely limiting health facilities’ ability to provide care. Acute malnutrition rose from 5.4% to 7.8% in 12 of Uganda’s 14 refugee settlements, putting thousands of children at risk of illness, long-term developmental harm, and death.
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) has had to cut health services for one million refugees due to funding reductions. These cuts are pushing Uganda’s refugee health system toward collapse, forcing the closure of essential services and leaving vulnerable populations without access to lifesaving care. Uganda, which hosts nearly two million refugees, is Africa’s largest refugee-hosting country and one of the largest globally. Its progressive refugee policy, once a model for the world, is now under acute threat as demand for humanitarian aid rises while funding sharply declines.
Funding reductions have led to the closure of health services in 11 refugee settlements, affecting both refugees and local communities. Clinics have shut or scaled back operations, outreach programs have been suspended, and overstretched health workers are struggling to meet rising needs. The health response faces multiple crises simultaneously, including new refugee arrivals from South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, an incomplete transition to national health systems, rising malnutrition, and recurring disease outbreaks, all overwhelming limited health capacity.
Elijah Okeyo, IRC Uganda Country Director, highlighted that with just 6% of required funding secured for 2026, nearly two million refugees risk losing access to basic health and nutrition services. The cuts have already affected over 735,500 refugees in major settlements such as Bidibidi, Imvepi, Rhino Camp, Palabek, and Kiryandongo. Remaining health facilities are overstretched, with some clinicians seeing more than 100 patients per day, double the accepted standard, which compromises quality of care and increases burnout among health workers.
Women and children are disproportionately affected by the funding crisis. Termination of key nutrition and maternal health programs has removed critical safety nets, raising the risk of maternal and neonatal deaths and long-term developmental harm to children. Reduced disease surveillance and immunization services increase the likelihood of outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles, while responses to cholera and mpox remain ongoing.
The scale of these funding cuts is reversing hard-won gains in refugee health, leaving families without care and putting lives at immediate risk. Without urgent funding, Uganda’s refugee health system could collapse, threatening nearly two million lives and undermining one of the world’s most important refugee protection frameworks.
The IRC has been active in Uganda since 1998, initially responding to displacement caused by the Lord’s Resistance Army. Over the years, it has expanded nationwide, providing lifesaving assistance to refugees and vulnerable Ugandans, including emergency response, health services, immunization, family planning, legal protection, women’s empowerment, education, livelihoods, and epidemic preparedness.
