Attachments
CONTEXT
• Uganda continues to host the largest refugee population in Africa. Nearly 1.8 million refugees and asylum-seekers— primarily women and children from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan—were residing in the country as of November 30, according to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). In 2024, UNHCR recorded an average of 13,000 new arrivals per month, consistent with levels seen in 2023. The continuous influx of new arrivals has resulted in overcrowding at reception and transit facilities, UNHCR reports. Additionally, more than 90 percent of refugees live in 13 settlements, with the remainder residing in urban areas. Refugees in Uganda have historically relied on a combination of humanitarian food assistance, livelihood activities, and subsistence agriculture to meet their basic needs.
• The Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) forecasts that between 1.5 and 2 million people, primarily those in refugee settlements and northeastern Uganda’s Karamoja region, will likely require humanitarian food assistance between October 2024 and May 2025 due to climate hazards impacting crop production and sustained refugee influx. Crisis—IPC Phase 3—levels of acute food insecurity are expected to persist in most refugee settlements through January 2025 due to decreasing food assistance ration sizes, poor harvest yields, limited access to income-generating activities, and sustained high food prices. In addition, Crisis outcomes are expected to persist through May in Karamoja, one of the most food-insecure regions, due to repeated climatic shocks and insecurity. Notably, ongoing insecurity in the area and surrounding districts continue to generate population displacement and disrupt agriculture activities, livelihoods, and access to markets, FEWS NET reports.
• Disease outbreaks also continue to adversely affect populations across Uganda, according to the UN. The federal Ministry of Health declared a mpox outbreak on August 2 amid outbreaks of measles and meningitis during 2024, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) reports. Between July 24 and December 1, health actors recorded more than 780 confirmed mpox cases and four associated deaths.