Kampala, Uganda, September 20, 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 center 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.”
Media contacts
Bethlehem Feleke
bethlehem.feleke@rescue.org
IRC Global Communications
+1 646 761 0307
communications@rescue.org
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About the IRC
The International Rescue Committee responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises, helping to restore health, safety, education, economic wellbeing, and power to people devastated by conflict and disaster. Founded in 1933 at the call of Albert Einstein, the IRC works in more than 40 countries and in 28 U.S. cities helping people to survive, reclaim control of their future, and strengthen their communities. Learn more at www.rescue.org and follow the IRC on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok and Facebook.