20 September 2024 — Uganda has received over 100,000 asylum seekers since January 2024, including an influx of Sudanese refugees fleeing brutal conflict in their home country. Sudanese refugees now make up the largest demographic of newly arriving refugees in Uganda this year, accounting for 36% of the total number of new arrivals.
Most Sudanese refugees arrive in Kiryandongo settlement in mid-Western Uganda where 150-200 of them are screened at the reception centre daily. Resources in the settlement are severely strained, with a lack of medical supplies, medicine and adequate health infrastructure posing health and safety risks to the already vulnerable individuals. As the main health service provider in the settlement, the IRC reiterates the urgent need for more funding in order to meet the needs of the growing number of refugees.
Shashwat Saraf, IRC Regional Emergency Director for East Africa said:
“More than a year of intense fighting in Sudan has forced millions to flee their homes to escape the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding. They arrive in nearby countries severely traumatized and in need of medical care and basic assistance that is often in short supply, as we’re seeing in Uganda. For refugee hosting countries, more funds are urgently required: today, the Sudan Regional Refugee Response Plan remains only 23% funded. Beyond that, the violence in Sudan must end now so that people are no longer forced to flee their homes.”