Across refugee settlements in northern and western Uganda, clinics are closing, medicines are running out, and malnutrition is rising among children. Humanitarian groups say a sharp drop in international funding has pushed the health system toward collapse, threatening the well being of hundreds of thousands of families.
Funding cuts are pushing Uganda’s refugee health system toward collapse, threatening access to basic care for nearly two million refugees and unraveling one of the world’s most widely praised refugee protection models, the International Rescue Committee warned this week.
Uganda hosts almost two million refugees, more than any other country in Africa, many of them fleeing violence in South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. For years, its policy of allowing refugees to work, move freely, and access public services has been held up as a global example. That system is now under acute strain, as humanitarian needs rise and international funding falls sharply.
According to the IRC, more than six disease outbreaks were reported across refugee settlements in 2025, while shortages of essential medicines and medical supplies reached as high as 30 percent in some locations. Health facilities that once served both refugees and host communities have been forced to close or scale back, leaving vast areas with little or no access to care.
Acute malnutrition has also worsened. Rates have climbed from 5.4 percent to 7.8 percent across 12 of Uganda’s 14 refugee hosting areas, putting thousands of children at heightened risk of illness, long term developmental harm, and death. The IRC said it has already been forced to cut health services for more than one million refugees because of funding shortfalls.
The pressure on the system has been compounded by continued arrivals from neighboring conflicts and an incomplete transition from humanitarian run clinics to Uganda’s national health system. At the same time, weakened disease surveillance and reduced immunization coverage have increased the risk of outbreaks of vaccine preventable illnesses, including measles, even as health workers continue to respond to cholera and mpox.
Elijah Okeyo, the IRC’s country director in Uganda, said the scale of the crisis is already visible across major settlements.
“It’s still early in the year, but following last year’s cuts and with just 6 percent of required funding secured for 2026, nearly 2 million refugees risk losing access to basic health and nutrition services, driving further clinic closures, suspended programs and preventable illness and deaths. The impact of these cuts is already being felt across major refugee settlements including Bidibidi, Imvepi, Rhino Camp, Palabek and Kiryandongo, affecting over 735,500 refugees. Remaining facilities are overwhelmed, with some clinicians seeing more than 100 patients per day, double the accepted standard, compromising quality of care and increasing burnout among health workers.”
Women and children have been hit especially hard. The termination of maternal health and nutrition programs has removed a critical safety net, increasing the risk of maternal and newborn deaths and causing long term damage to children’s development, the IRC said.
“The scale of these cuts is devastating. They are reversing hard won gains in refugee health, leaving families without care, and putting lives at immediate risk. This is not a future threat. It is happening now,” Mr. Okeyo said.
Without an urgent increase in funding, the IRC warned, Uganda’s refugee health system could collapse entirely, placing nearly two million lives at grave risk and undermining one of the most significant refugee protection frameworks in the world.
The International Rescue Committee has worked in Uganda since 1998, initially responding to displacement caused by the Lord’s Resistance Army. Its operations expanded during the South Sudan refugee crisis in 2016 and now span health care, immunization, family planning, education, legal protection, livelihoods, and epidemic preparedness, serving both refugees and vulnerable Ugandans across the country.
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