{"id":52942,"date":"2025-02-11T17:17:43","date_gmt":"2025-02-11T17:17:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/uganda-s-health-ministry-urges-workers-to-volunteer-after-us-freezes-aid\/"},"modified":"2025-02-11T17:17:34","modified_gmt":"2025-02-11T17:17:34","slug":"uganda-s-health-ministry-urges-workers-to-volunteer-after-us-freezes-aid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/uganda-s-health-ministry-urges-workers-to-volunteer-after-us-freezes-aid\/","title":{"rendered":"Uganda\u2019s health ministry urges workers to volunteer after US freezes aid"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The call, issued in a letter signed by Dr. Diana Atwine, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Health, comes in response to an executive order by U.S. President Donald Trump, which halted the disbursement of USAID and Center for Disease Contral funds pending review.<\/p>\n<p>The funding suspension has affected numerous healthcare workers whose salaries and operations depended on American financial assistance.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith immediate effect, all activities related to the disbursement of federal financial assistance have been paused. As a result, operations and emoluments directly supported by the U.S. government are suspended,\u201d Dr. Atwine stated in the letter.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHowever, in the meantime, we encourage contracted staff willing to continue working in the spirit of patriotism as volunteers to reach out for possible integration into the existing healthcare system,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<p>The funding freeze has raised concerns about potential disruptions in essential health services, particularly in HIV\/AIDS programs, maternal health, and infectious disease prevention. Uganda heavily relies on foreign aid, with U.S. funding playing a critical role in supporting public health initiatives.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-81501 aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/jpg\/pic_2-136.jpg\" alt=\"Dr. Diana Atwine, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Health called on health workers previously funded by the United States to continue working voluntarily \u201cin the spirit of patriotism\u201d.\" \/><\/figure>\n<p>Some affected health workers have expressed frustration over the government\u2019s call for voluntary service.<br \/>\n\u201cMany of us have families to feed and bills to pay. It\u2019s not realistic to expect us to work without pay,\u201d said a healthcare worker formerly supported by USAID, who spoke on condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n<p>Others worry about the long-term impact of the suspension on Uganda\u2019s health system. \u201cThese programs have saved millions of lives. If funding is not restored soon, we could see a serious crisis,\u201d said Dr. James Okello, a senior medical officer.<\/p>\n<p>The Ugandan government says it is in discussions with U.S. officials to find a resolution. \u201cWe remain optimistic that engagements with the U.S. government will yield a positive outcome,\u201d Dr. Atwine reassured, urging health workers to stay patient during the process.<\/p>\n<p>However, with no immediate solution in sight, the uncertainty has left many health workers and beneficiaries anxious about the future of critical medical programs in the country.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-81500 aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/jpg\/pic_1-179.jpg\" alt=\"Some affected health workers have expressed frustration over the government\u2019s call for voluntary service. \" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Ugandan government has called on health workers previously funded by the United States to continue working voluntarily \u201cin the spirit of patriotism\u201d after a recent freeze in foreign aid left many without salaries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":135,"featured_media":2000081499,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[75],"byline":[170],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-52942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-homenews","byline-igihe"],"bylines":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"contributors":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"featured_image":{"id":2000081499,"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/profile-269.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":0,"height":0,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/profile-269.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/profile-269.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/profile-269.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/profile-269.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/profile-269.jpg","width":0,"height":0}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/135"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52942"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52942\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000081499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52942"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=52942"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=52942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}