Uganda is on track to host nearly 2 million refugees by the end of 2025, as an average of 600 people arrive daily from conflict-hit neighbors, including Sudan, South Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to a new warning from the UN refugee agency (UNHCR).
Already home to 1.93 million refugees, over half of whom are children, Uganda holds the title of Africa’s largest refugee-hosting nation and the third largest globally. Yet its humanitarian response is teetering on collapse, with UNHCR describing the situation as one of the worst funding crises in decades.
“Emergency funding runs out in September,” said Dominique Hyde, UNHCR’s Director of External Relations. “More children will die of malnutrition, more girls will suffer sexual violence, and families will be left unprotected unless the world steps up.”
Despite Uganda’s open-door policy and integration efforts—providing refugees access to schools, healthcare, and land—the current refugee response is only 2% funded, the agency revealed.
This year, it costs an estimated $16 per month to meet the needs of one refugee, but with current funding, only $5 per person is available. As a result, food, water, and medicine are in dangerously short supply, and malnutrition rates—particularly among children under five—are rising rapidly.
The UNHCR is urging the international community, including development partners, to scale up support urgently, warning that without immediate intervention, Uganda’s model of refugee inclusion will not hold.