In January, the United Nations Population Fund identified a vital need for 267 midwives across all Ugandan settlements, but funding shortfalls left only 23% of these positions filled.
Kristine Blokhus, country representative for the UNFPA in Uganda, noted that camp, fuel, and salary cuts have largely grounded mobile midwife teams.
"When women in remote zones cannot access a mobile team or afford transport to a clinic, they are forced to give birth at home, dramatically increasing the risk of maternal death," she says.
Patient attendance numbers dropped from 15,065 in October to 10,926 in January, which residents attribute to a growing sense of resignation.
Mandera recalled calling an ambulance for a mother in labor, only to be told it was not an emergency because the entire settlement now shares a single ambulance driver, down from three active ambulances.
Volunteer translator Fatima Muhammad Ahmed added that volunteers no longer receive modest transport stipends, preventing them from walking miles to help patients communicate with healthcare workers.
The UNFPA also reported a 30% shortage of essential obstetric medicines and neonatal equipment in seven settlements, including Kiryandongo.
When specialized malnutrition programs ended due to lost funding, acute malnutrition prevalence in the settlements climbed from 5.4% to 7.8%.
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While a recent $5.4 million injection from Unicef and UNHCR to the Ugandan ministry of health aims to assist, community outreach, mental health, and laboratory services remain heavily downscaled, and village health teams plummeted from 2,517 in 2025 to just 163.
