• More than six disease outbreaks were reported in refugee settlements across Uganda in 2025, while stock-outs of essential medicines and medical commodities reached up to 30%, crippling health facilities’ ability to provide care.

  • Acute malnutrition has risen from 5.4% to 7.8% across 12 of Uganda’s 14 refugee locations, putting thousands of children at heightened risk of illness, long-term developmental harm and death.

  • IRC has been forced to cut health services for 1 million refugees as a result of funding cuts

26 January 2026 —  The International Rescue Committee (IRC) warns that severe humanitarian funding cuts are pushing Uganda’s refugee health system toward collapse, forcing the shutdown of essential services and leaving more than one million refugees previously supported by IRC without access to lifesaving care.

Uganda hosts nearly 2 million refugees, making it Africa’s largest refugee hosting country and one of the largest refugee-hosting countries in the world. For years, the country’s progressive refugee policy has been a global model. Today, that model is under acute threat. Since 2022, demand for humanitarian assistance has surged while funding has sharply declined, with health services among the hardest hit.

For the IRC, funding reductions have already led to the closure of health services across 11 refugee settlements, affecting refugees and the local community alike. Clinics have been forced to shut or scale back operations, outreach programmes have been suspended, and overstretched health workers are struggling to cope with rising needs.

The health response in refugee settlements is facing a convergence of crises. As new refugee arrivals continue from South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, ranked 3rd and 7th on the IRC’s 2026 Emergency Watchlist, which identifies the countries most at risk of worsening humanitarian crises, an incomplete transition to national health systems, rising malnutrition and recurring disease outbreaks are overwhelming already limited health capacity.

Elijah Okeyo, IRC Uganda Country Director, said:

“It’s still early in the year, but following last year’s cuts and with just 6% of required funding secured for 2026, nearly 2 million refugees risk losing access to basic health and nutrition services, driving further clinic closures, suspended programmes 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 are among the most affected. The termination of key nutrition and maternal health programmes has removed a critical safety net, increasing the risk of maternal and neonatal deaths and long-term harm to children’s development. At the same time, weakened disease surveillance and reduced immunisation services are heightening the risk of outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles, alongside ongoing responses to cholera and mpox.

"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.”

Without immediate funding, Uganda’s refugee health system faces collapse, placing nearly 2 million lives at grave risk and undermining one of the world’s most important refugee protection frameworks.