Africa-Press – Uganda. Leaders and Civil Society Organisations in Uganda have called on the government to prioritise the domestic financing for health care systems to address the challenge of pandemic preparedness in the country.
The leaders made the call on July 19 in Kampala during a stakeholders’ meeting organised by HEPS-Uganda and Samasha, all NGO’s in partnership with the Health Ministry.
The meeting was aimed at discussing a way forward on how the challenge of health care financing in the country can be addressed.
They argue that Uganda as a country has been grappling with a number of pandemics therefore it should have budgets for managing such crisis rather than depending on donor funders.
Ms Margaret Ayebare Rwebyambu, the Mbarara District Woman Member of Parliament who also doubles as a member of the Health Committee at Parliament said,
“We have been depending so much on donor funding and there’s what we call donor fatigue. They are getting worn out. COVID 19 showed us that they also need their money because this was a global problem where they also didn’t even have chance to help us.”
Adding that, “When it came to manufacturers who manufacture vaccines, they did not have capacity to manufacture for their countries. So how would we expect them to manufacture for us here in Africa particularly Uganda, “She added.
She says it’s important for Ugandans to begin looking at domestic financing for health systems because instead of the Government waiting for donors to fund its heath system, it should do it itself.
The stakeholders urged the government to widen its tax base ad repurpose funds for the health sector to favour domestic health care financing.
Mr Kenneth Mwehonge, the HEPS-Uganda Executive Director said apart from its population, Uganda as the largest refugee hosting country with 15 million resident refugees from South Sudan, DRC and Somalia, needs to prioritise on domestic health care financing to be ready for any emergencies and spread of new infectious diseases.
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