Report asks Govt to increase domestic health financing by 1%

By Olivia Nabaggala

31^st May 2023

The International Federation of the Red Cross and the Red Crescent societies have proposed to the Uganda Government to increase domestic health financing by 1% of the country’s Gross Domestic Products.

This is one of the recommendations in the World Disaster Report 2022 that has been released at the Office of the Prime Minister on Wednesday.

In the report, there is a call for countries to have an updated pandemic preparedness plan and also include concrete measures to strengthen equity, trust and local action.

While presenting this report, Laban Musinguzi from Makerere University called upon legislators to review the need for a holistic approach to crisis response, clarify the roles and responsibilities and the needs of recognized local actors for personal protective equipment and appropriate exemptions from movement restrictions.

The report has been released in line with the outbreak of Covid-19 in 2019 which exposed many countries that were not prepared to handle disasters since the pandemic indirectly impacted lives of every community in the country.

The Director of Public Health at the Ministry of Health, Dr. Daniel Kyabayinze who represented the Health Minister, Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng noted that there is a need to have a disaster preparedness fund that is easily accessible in case of an outbreak of any disaster in the country.