Kampala, February 21, 2024 – Health Development Partners (HDPs) in Uganda have pledged to improve the harmonization and coordination of their efforts to effectively support the national health development plan and budget in 2024. This commitment was made at their recent HDP annual retreat held at the World Health Organization (WHO) in Uganda, which is the secretariat of the HDP Forum.

The retreat brought together thirty development partners' representatives and UN agencies. They discussed ways to improve their support to strengthen the health system in Uganda. These include improving health service delivery, advocating for sustainable health financing through more effective and efficient utilization of development assistance for health, and increasing government funding to the health sector.

Other areas of focus include supporting the scale-up of the community health program, digitizing processes to improve timely health interventions, strengthening adolescent health services, particularly reducing teenage pregnancy, and pandemic preparedness.

In his presentation, Dr Richard Kabanda, Commissioner for Health Promotion, Education, and Strategic Communication at the Ministry of Health, acknowledged the support provided by development partners to advance Uganda's health agenda, especially in community health.
"Communities are at the center of all health interventions. There is an urgent need to improve their resilience by strengthening Village Health Team structures, improving funding for Community Health Extension Workers (CHEWs), and ensuring harmonization of actions during major public health campaigns", he stated.

With support from the HDPs, the Ministry launched the community health strategy and is rolling out the CHEWs program that was piloted successfully in the Mayuge and Lira districts.

Similarly, Dr. Rose Okot-Chono, the Team Lead of Health System Strengthening at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Chair of the HDP Forum called on all partners to align their action plans with government priorities. "As health development partners, we have different priorities. However, to have a significant impact, we should align our support with the priorities of the Ugandan government," she said.

Subsequently, the UNFPA Deputy Country Representative and Co-chair of the HDP Forum, Mr. Daniel Alemu, emphasized the critical nature of the current year’s activities, particularly regarding the validation and finalization of the National Health Policy 3. “This policy is crucial for advancing key health priorities in the coming years,” he stated.

In 2023, the HDP supported the Ministry of Health in conducting and publishing the 2022 Uganda Demographic Health Survey (UDHS), which highlighted significant reductions in maternal, infant, and under-five mortality. The UDHS informs decision-making and interventions to improve health service delivery in the country.

In addition, Health Development Partners continued to support the Ministry of Health's efforts towards financial sustainability by advocating for an increase in the allocation of national resources to the health sector. This has resulted in an increase of over UGX 200 billion in national resources allocated to the health sector, from UGX 3,684.56 billion in FY 2022/23 to UGX 3,895.70 billion in FY 2023/24.

The WHO Representative to Uganda and permanent Co-chair of the HDP Forum, Dr Yonas Tegegn Woldemariam, urged development partners to build trust, transparency, and accountability through information sharing. "We need to document our interventions and best practices to improve countries' preparedness for health emergencies. This will also promote transparency and accountability, improving trust between partners and government," he explained.

The Uganda Health Development Partners Forum has been actively engaged in health-related initiatives since 1997. Its three main objectives are: to provide a forum for coordination between partners working in the health sector to align their actions with government plans and budgets; to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of the implementation of the health sector development plan; and to strengthen accountability between government and development partners.