{"id":635,"date":"2025-06-12T13:53:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-12T10:53:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsnest.co.ug\/?p=635"},"modified":"2025-08-18T14:03:19","modified_gmt":"2025-08-18T11:03:19","slug":"uganda-doubles-health-budget-to-shs5-87-trillion-for-2025-26-to-bolster-healthcare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsnest.co.ug\/?p=635","title":{"rendered":"Uganda Doubles Health Budget to Shs5.87 Trillion for 2025\/26 to Bolster Healthcare"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Uganda has made a landmark commitment to its health sector, nearly doubling funding to <strong>Shs5.87 trillion ($1.5 billion)<\/strong> in the 2025\/26 financial year, up from <strong>Shs2.95 trillion<\/strong> in the previous cycle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Finance Minister <strong>Matia Kasaija<\/strong> announced the allocation during the national budget reading, noting that health will take <strong>8.1% of the Shs72.37 trillion national budget<\/strong>. The move signals a bold push to strengthen public health infrastructure amid declining donor support and a rising disease burden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The new funding will prioritize:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Operationalizing Health Centre IVs<\/strong> across the country.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Expanding digital health systems<\/strong> for improved service delivery.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Upgrading cancer and cardiovascular facilities<\/strong> to address growing non-communicable diseases.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Progress in 2024\/25<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Recent achievements include the commissioning of <strong>three regional blood banks<\/strong> in Hoima, Arua, and Soroti, the <strong>operationalization of 16 oxygen plants<\/strong>, and the <strong>introduction of the malaria vaccine<\/strong> into Uganda\u2019s national immunization program. The long-delayed <strong>Lubowa Specialised Hospital<\/strong>, now 68% complete, is also moving forward, with specialist training already underway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Concerns and Risks<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite the historic increase, health experts warn that <strong>funding delays and procurement inefficiencies<\/strong> could stall progress. <strong>Peter Eceru<\/strong>, a health policy analyst, cautioned that effective implementation will be critical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <strong>Center for Health, Human Rights and Development (CEHURD)<\/strong> also raised concerns about sustainability, noting that <strong>78% of the Ministry of Health\u2019s Shs1.61 trillion allocation<\/strong> is donor-funded. The organization urged government to scale up domestic financing to meet the <strong>Universal Health Coverage (UHC) 2030 target<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A Pivotal Step<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>This landmark budget reflects Uganda\u2019s resolve to strengthen health systems, confront both infectious and non-communicable diseases, and enhance emergency and specialized care-positioning the health sector as a cornerstone of national development.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Uganda has made a landmark commitment to its health sector, nearly doubling funding to Shs5.87 trillion ($1.5 billion) in the 2025\/26 financial year, up from Shs2.95 trillion in the previous cycle. Finance Minister Matia Kasaija announced the allocation during the national budget reading, noting that health will take 8.1% of the Shs72.37 trillion national budget. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":636,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[100,99,98],"class_list":["post-635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","tag-health-budget","tag-ministry-of-health","tag-mulago"],"aioseo_notices":[],"blog_post_layout_featured_media_urls":{"thumbnail":["https:\/\/newsnest.co.ug\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Mulago-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"full":["https:\/\/newsnest.co.ug\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Mulago.jpg",703,378,false]},"categories_names":{"2":{"name":"Health","link":"https:\/\/newsnest.co.ug\/?cat=2"}},"tags_names":{"100":{"name":"Health Budget","link":"https:\/\/newsnest.co.ug\/?tag=health-budget"},"99":{"name":"Ministry of health","link":"https:\/\/newsnest.co.ug\/?tag=ministry-of-health"},"98":{"name":"Mulago","link":"https:\/\/newsnest.co.ug\/?tag=mulago"}},"comments_number":"0","wpmagazine_modules_lite_featured_media_urls":{"thumbnail":["https:\/\/newsnest.co.ug\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Mulago-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"cvmm-medium":["https:\/\/newsnest.co.ug\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Mulago-300x300.jpg",300,300,true],"cvmm-medium-plus":["https:\/\/newsnest.co.ug\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Mulago-305x207.jpg",305,207,true],"cvmm-portrait":["https:\/\/newsnest.co.ug\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Mulago-400x378.jpg",400,378,true],"cvmm-medium-square":["https:\/\/newsnest.co.ug\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Mulago-600x378.jpg",600,378,true],"cvmm-large":["https:\/\/newsnest.co.ug\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Mulago.jpg",703,378,false],"cvmm-small":["https:\/\/newsnest.co.ug\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Mulago-130x95.jpg",130,95,true],"full":["https:\/\/newsnest.co.ug\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Mulago.jpg",703,378,false]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsnest.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsnest.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsnest.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsnest.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsnest.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=635"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newsnest.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":637,"href":"https:\/\/newsnest.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635\/revisions\/637"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsnest.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsnest.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsnest.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsnest.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}