Attachments
Appeal highlights
- Uganda faces multiple humanitarian crises every year, including refugee influxes, disease outbreaks and climate-related disasters. In 2022, due to drought, more than 500,000 people in the Karamoja subregion were food-insecure, and nearly 92,000 malnourished children required treatment. These emergencies have been compounded by an Ebola outbreak declared in September 2022. Altogether, an estimated 13.8 million children, women and vulnerable people will require humanitarian assistance in 2023.
- In response to humanitarian needs, UNICEF will support government authorities at all levels and work in partnership with non-governmental organizations to provide integrated and multisectoral life-saving assistance. UNICEF will employ a combined approach to its interventions, focusing on systems strengthening, service delivery, provision of critical supplies and durable solutions, contributing to building the resilience of vulnerable communities. The UNICEF response is informed by gender analysis and accounts for the differentiated risks, needs and capacities of women, girls, men and boys.
- In 2023 UNICEF requires US$43.2 million to uphold the rights of children, adolescents and women affected by these crises, and to help to save their lives. The increased budget is related to the Ebola outbreak and climate hazards.
HUMANITARIAN SITUATION AND NEEDS
In 2022, the combined effects of multiple hazards led to the deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Uganda. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) exercise officially released by the Government and partners in June 2022 indicates a deterioration in the food security situation in the Karamoja subregion, with approximately 520,000 people classified in IPC Phase 3 or above, with 91,600 children under 5 years of age suffering from wasting and in need of treatment. The Uganda Ministry of Health declared an outbreak of Ebola disease caused by Sudan virus on 20 September 2022, following a positive test result for one adult male in Mubende district. While it is still unclear how the outbreak will evolve, UNICEF is considering the scenario that delay in detection of cases will cause the spread of the outbreak (beyond the nine districts reporting cases) to high-risk districts, but containment within these 21 districts, and a response enduring 6-8 months. The Ebola outbreak will likely limit the provision of basic health services due to overstretching and infection of health workers and fear of communities getting infected; result in the utilization of existing spaces in health facilities to establish isolation areas; disrupt immunization campaigns such as the one for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19); and require an upgrade to existing health facilities to comply with Ebola prevention and mitigation measures. Women and girls carry primary responsibility for the sick, and any stigma attached to this might constrain their livelihoods, increasing the risks of gender-based violence and survival sex.
Uganda hosts 1.5 million refugees, including more than 898,000 children from Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan. An additional influx of refugees is expected to arrive in Uganda in 2023, including unaccompanied children and people with disabilities. Due to overcrowding in urban settlements, poor access to clean water and sanitation, high prevalence of undernutrition and multiple protection risks, an estimated 7.4 million refugees and host community members will need humanitarian assistance by the end of 2023. In refugee-hosting communities, access to education remains low, with the gross enrolment ratio for early childhood development (preschool) at only 48 per cent, and for primary and secondary education it is 88.5 per cent and 12 per cent, respectively. Up to 41 per cent of primary- and secondary-school-age children are out of school and only 2 per cent of learners with a disability are enrolled in schools. Child protection needs assessments show that refugee and host community children continue to experience a range of protection risks, including child labour, child marriage, sexual and physical violence and neglect.
More than 87,000 people were affected by floods in 2022, which brought about displacement, destruction of infrastructure and risks of waterborne diseases. In the Mount Elgon region, 35 schools and more than 7,000 children were affected by floods. Climate hazards amplify protection risks for children by increasing separation, psychosocial distress and neglect and by exacerbating pre-existing levels of violence.