Planning Health Care For Internally Displaced Persons: Experiences in Uganda

Abstract

A significant proportion of Ugandans have at one time or another been forced to flee their homes. In 1997 alone, point prevalence revealed that 2,000,000 persons were displaced and it is estimated that currently about 1.6 million Ugandan are internally displaced. The ten districts in the north and northeastern Uganda have the biggest problems of displacement with Gulu district having the highest number of IDPs. The status of IDPs is unpredictable. The objective of health care services for IDPs is to reduce excess mortality (currently twice that of districts without IDPs) and morbidity among the Internally Displaced Persons through interventions that target the most vulnerable (women, children, disabled) in these communities. The natural response in Uganda for the affected districts in the North and North- Eastern parts of the country has been multisectoral. This paper proposes how priority health interventions can be designed and delivered in IDP camps, above all stressing the role of coordination.