CSOs urge govt to fill up vacant health sector positions

KAMPALA - The civil society in Uganda has urged the Government to, in a phased manner, dedicate funds to finance all vacant positions in the health sector, with a focus on health facilities in local governments. 

The call was made on January 13, 2026, during a briefing on the National Budget Framework paper from the finance ministry.

Trevor Emojong from AHF Uganda Cares, an organisation that provides health services, including free antiretroviral therapy countrywide, said a functional health system depends on the availability of a sufficient, well-distributed, and motivated health workforce.

However, Uganda is still facing health financing challenges, which have affected the staffing and equipping of health centres.

Limited finance has further affected the provision of services to the growing challenge of mental health, where Uganda has an estimated 50–60 psychiatrists serving a population of over 40 million.

In terms of ratios, it means that one psychiatrist has to attend to one million people, which is hard to achieve.

Besides, most of psychiatrists are concentrated in Kampala, leaving rural populations reliant on overstretched Village Health Teams (VHTs) and family caregivers.

“These staffing shortages limit access to essential care, overburden existing health workers, weaken preventive and nutrition services, and undermine implementation of government policies and health sector reforms,” Emojong said.

According to him, the Annual Health Sector Performance Report 2025 shows that public health facilities are operating at only 34% of approved staffing norms, which is constraining service delivery.

Due to the limited number of staff available, only 59% of health facilities are functional and are offering general health services; but with disparities in service delivery, where urban centres are at 66%, peri-urban at 60%, and rural settings 55%.

He also quoted the Global Strategy on Human Resources for Health Workforce 2030, which emphasises that countries can only achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) when they maintain adequate numbers of competent health workers.

The World Health Organisation recommends a minimum of 4.45 skilled health workers per 1,000 people as the threshold for delivering essential services. Countries operating below this threshold experience reduced access to care, weakened system efficiency, growing health inequities, and poorer health outcomes.

“That is why we want the Government to set aside funds to help in the recruitment and deployment of at least two psychiatric nurses and one clinical psychologist to every district hospital to strengthen the continuum of mental health services between VHTs and regional referral hospitals,” he said.

Jonathan Lubega (L), SEATINI-Uganda policy analyst addresses journalists as Stella Rose Akutui, ESAFFI looks on during a press conference about CSO perspectives on the financial year 2026/2027 National Budget framework paper at Civil Society Budget Advocacy Group (CSBAG) in Ntinda on January 13, 2026. (Credit: Juliet Kasirye)

Government commended

At the same event, Civil Society Budget Advocacy Group (CSBAG) executive director Julius Mukunda commended the Government for the macroeconomic stability, as seen through the economic growth of 6.3% in the financial year 2024/25, up from 6.1% in the financial year 2023/24.

He added that the economy is projected to grow by 6.5 to 7% in the current financial year and because of this growth, the size of the economy is projected to increase to $68.4 billion about sh 249.4 trillion.

Mukunda said the growth is attributed to the stable macroeconomic conditions; investments in infrastructure such as roads, schools, hospitals and industrial parks; ongoing developments in the oil and gas sector; increased exports; and favorable weather conditions among others.

For the above growth to be sustained, Mukunda called for efforts to reduce the growing public debt.

He said Uganda’s public debt continues to rise now at $ 32.33 billion (about shillings 116.21 trillion by June 2025, up from $ 25.63 billion (about shillings 94.72 trillion) in June 2024.  

This is driven by large-scale infrastructure investments and increased fiscal pressures ahead of the 2026 elections.

Mukunda explained that because concessional financing is reducing, the Government has increased domestic borrowing to finance fiscal deficits, resulting in a growing shift in the debt portfolio composition.

By September 2025, domestic debt had increased to shillings 63.936 trillion, representing a 6% rise in the first quarter of the year, while external debt declined marginally by 0.7%.

“This rising dependence on domestic debt, which now constitutes most of the public debt, has increased interest costs to 25% of government revenue in the financial year 2025. It has increased budgetary pressure and contributed to higher domestic interest rates, with commercial bank lending rates rising to 18.85% by September 2025, among the highest in the region,” he added.