Uganda Sees Opportunity Amid U.S. Threat to Withdraw WHO Funding

In the wake of growing tensions between the United States and the World Health Organization (WHO), health experts in Uganda are urging the nation to avoid panic and instead view the situation as an opportunity for positive change in its healthcare sector.

The U.S. government’s threats to withdraw its funding from WHO, a major contributor to global health initiatives, have sparked concerns worldwide, particularly in countries like Uganda that rely on the organization’s support for disease management and public health strategies.

During his first term, former U.S. President Donald Trump initiated plans to cut funding to WHO, a decision that the Biden administration has reiterated despite the organization’s pivotal role in combating global health crises like the COVID-19 pandemic. The U.S. claims that WHO mishandled its response to the pandemic, particularly in its relations with China, and alleges corruption within its leadership. As a result, the future of WHO’s financial support is uncertain, leaving many nations questioning the potential consequences for global health efforts.

However, Ugandan health experts, including Dr. Timothy Batuwa, the Shadow Minister of Health, have reassured the public that the country should not fear the situation. Dr. Batuwa emphasizes that the World Health Organization’s role is primarily advisory and technical in nature, providing critical assistance to countries by helping them develop and implement effective health strategies. He notes that Uganda has long benefited from this support, particularly in developing systems that adapt to the country’s unique health challenges.

“WHO gives technical advice,” says Dr. Batuwa. “This is an agency that is there to give us technical advice. That’s what it has always been doing. It gives us the technical assistance and helps our ministry of health and health-related agencies come up with strategies for implementing health systems and enabling their adaptation within the healthcare sector.”

Yet, Dr. Batuwa also critiques WHO for its lack of actionable advice regarding certain diseases, notably malaria. He argues that WHO’s promotion of mosquito nets as a primary tool to combat malaria has been more beneficial to manufacturers than to the lives of those suffering from the disease. According to Dr. Batuwa, evidence-based approaches that focus on reducing mosquito populations—through methods used in other countries such as the U.S., China, and South Africa—could have more effectively curbed the spread of malaria in Uganda. This, he suggests, could be a turning point for the country to reassess its health strategies independently.

While WHO’s financial withdrawal may pose challenges, Dr. Batuwa believes it could present an opportunity for Uganda to implement the lessons it has learned over the years and invest more heavily in its own healthcare system and research. The country’s continued reliance on foreign assistance, he suggests, should be reexamined. Uganda must begin to strengthen its internal capacity to manage public health challenges without depending solely on external aid.

The government of Uganda has echoed this sentiment, calling for a shift towards self-reliance in health management. Dr. Daniel Kyabayinze, the Director of Public Health in the Ministry of Health, urges Ugandans to focus on primary healthcare and preventive measures, which he believes are key to reducing the country’s dependency on external bodies like WHO. He highlights the importance of improving nutrition, hygiene practices, and local manufacturing to support the healthcare system.

“I believe our focus should be on primary health and preventive medicine, giving good nutrition, teaching people etiquette of hygiene,” Dr. Kyabayinze says. “But we should also go into local manufacturing. What usually hemorrhages our resources is trying to import everything that we use in the health facility.”

In addition to these domestic solutions, Dr. Kyabayinze emphasizes the importance of increasing Uganda’s health budget, pointing out that the country currently invests less than the recommended 15% of its budget on healthcare. The Abuja Declaration, which calls for African countries to allocate 15% of their budgets to health, remains a goal that Uganda continues to strive toward. However, the country’s current tax revenues are insufficient to meet this target, requiring more strategic fiscal planning and prioritization of health in government spending.

Despite the concerns raised by the U.S. withdrawal, Uganda’s experts remain optimistic that the country can weather the storm by focusing on improving its own healthcare infrastructure and fostering a culture of self-reliance. In the face of shifting global dynamics, Uganda’s future health strategy may not only involve coping with the fallout from the U.S. decision but also seizing an opportunity to build a more resilient and self-sustaining healthcare system that meets the needs of its citizens.

As the world watches these developments unfold, Uganda’s approach could serve as a model for other nations that find themselves in similar predicaments—striving for health independence while navigating the complexities of global health partnerships and funding uncertainties.