INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSAL HEALTH COVERAGE DAY UHC2030 CELEBRATIONS

Rural Aid Foundation in conjunction with Global Health Corps, United Nations High Commission for Refugees, Office of the prime minister, IAU, will conduct a one day dialogue on refugee health and influx in Uganda under the theme: Leaving no one behind: Achieving Universal Health coverage 2030 through prioritizing and addressing refugee and host communities’ health needs

Uganda currently hosts to over 1.4 million refugees from South Sudan, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia and it is predicted this number could grow up to 1.8 million by the end of 2018, according to UNHCR. Uganda’s integrated refugee response incorporating host communities has been named as the model for the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework (CRRF), adopted in September 2016 Summit for Refugees and Migrants in New York. This makes Uganda as a frontline state for this new approach.

Uganda has over ten refugee camps located in the hard to reach rural areas and in slums around Kampala. These are characterized by poor or limited access to quality health services for the refugees and the host communities. Besides this, refugees in such places lack basic information on their health rights and national health policies.

During the Uganda Solidarity Summit on refugees on 21^st and 22^nd June 2017, the world gathered in Uganda to stand in solidarity with the country as it hosts over 1 million refugees. The summit, hosted by H.E the president of Uganda and the United Nations Secretary General, Mr. Antonio Guterres raised over USD350million to support the refugee crisis and influx in Uganda.

Aware that refugees face the most devastating health challenges, there is need to prioritize, address, and increase awareness on refugee health rights, laws and policies to ensure they are not left out as the world strives to achieve Universal health coverage 2030.

There is need to establish national, regional and global level partnerships to advocate and re-enforce government’s and UNHCR’s efforts in addressing refugees’ and host communities’ health needs as well as increasing community awareness on refugee health rights, laws and policies through stakeholders engagements.

The event will bring together stakeholders including government, donors, private sector, CSOs, humanitarian agencies, host community leaders to create awareness on refugee health rights, laws and health policies in Uganda as well as  create opportunities for possible partnerships in addressing refugee health needs in Uganda.

At the end of this event, a national alliance (list of CSOs and stakeholders) committed to supporting and addressing refugee and host communities will be established to continuously work towards addressing refugee health needs to achieve UHC 2030.

 

 

Goals

To advocate for increased partnerships in supporting refugee and host communities health needs to achieve Universal health coverage 2030.

To garner support and commitment from government, donor agencies, civil society organizations, and host communities in prioritizing and addressing refugee health needs.

To raise awareness on refugee health rights, laws and policies in Uganda.

Target participants and audience

The event will target refugees and their host communities in slums around Kampala, CSOs, government, policy makers, UN agencies, and civil society activists.

Main topics and messages

The topics shall include Presentation on the global UHC2030 strategy, Refugee influx statistics in Uganda and value of partnerships in addressing refugee health needs, refugee health rights, laws and policies in Uganda, National, regional and international commitments and obligations in addressing refugee health needs to achieve UHC2030, Barriers to quality health services for refugee and host communities and solutions, Value of Partnerships in addressing refugee influx and health challenges in Uganda.