Uganda Health Programme
A nationwide vision for care in Uganda
Bringing specialist, community‑centred care closer to home in Uganda.
Photo by Speak Media Uganda
Uganda faces a dual burden:
persistent infectious diseases and rapidly rising non-communicable conditions.
Mildmay is expanding access to integrated, high-quality services through a network of regional health centres, beginning in Mbale and extending to areas of greatest need.
With a legacy of more than 160 years, we have consistently combined compassion with clinical innovation.
Since 1998, we have worked alongside the Ugandan government, local partners and international funders to save tens of thousands of lives.
We are responding to a new and urgent set of challenges in the national health landscape:
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Rising Chronic Illness: As average life expectancy in Uganda has risen from 47 to 68 years, non-communicable diseases like hypertension and diabetes have created an unmet need for long-term treatment and palliative care.
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Declining External Funding: A reduction in foreign-funded healthcare and a decline in free HIV antiretroviral drugs are placing essential services at risk.
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Childhood Disability: With the fifth-highest birth rate in the world, the number of children living with disabilities and long-term conditions has increased, requiring urgent specialist care.
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The Rural Barrier: 80% of the population lives in rural areas with poor roads and limited transportation, making specialist care nearly impossible to reach.
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Critical Workforce Shortage: Uganda currently has only 1.5 physicians for every 10,000 people, leaving government regional hospitals underfunded and over-utilised.
Our Strategy: A Network of Regional Excellence
Our solution is to establish a targeted network of small, specialist diagnostic and treatment centres that integrate general healthcare with palliative care and childhood disability services.
These centres bring high-quality, locally tailored care directly to the communities that need them most. By combining specialist clinical expertise with community-based support, we are creating a scalable and sustainable model that can be adopted nationwide.
We are working with local partners, including the JOY Health Centre and Hospice* in Mbale, currently the only dedicated inpatient palliative care facility in the country, to shape a model of care that brings these services within reach.
*While JOY Health Centre and Hospice serves as Uganda’s sole dedicated inpatient palliative care hub, palliative care elsewhere is largely integrated into overstretched government regional hospitals that struggle to provide specialist services due to chronic underfunding and high patient demand.
Consequently, many patients remain undiagnosed or must rely on limited clinical outreach and home-based teams to receive support in rural areas.
Countryside around Mbale in Eastern Uganda.
Over 2026, Mildmay commissioned an independent feasibility study of healthcare need in the greater Mbale area, drawing on patient interviews, community focus groups, and conversations with local health authorities and employers.
The findings were clear
Mbale already has general outpatient and basic hospital care.
What it lacks is reliable access to more advanced services: diagnostic imaging, coordinated specialist surgery, round-the-clock emergency and maternity care, and continuity of care for people living with long-term conditions or requiring palliative support. Patients who need these services are frequently referred to Kampala or Jinja, a journey that many, particularly in rural and mountain communities, cannot easily make.
Mbale's catchment area
The area Mbale serves and its distance from Kampala and Jinja
The study recommends that Mildmay's Mbale centre focus on exactly these gaps: bringing dependable, affordable, coordinated care closer to home, rather than duplicating services that already exist locally.
We are moving from vision toward a fully costed plan:
Feasibility Study Completed
An independent feasibility study of demand, service gaps and site options in Greater Mbale has been completed and is now informing our clinical, financial and site planning.
Clinical and Service Model
Working with Mildmay Uganda, we have refined our plans to a phased 20-bed model, focused on the services where local need is greatest: emergency care, diagnostics, maternity and newborn care, and specialist and palliative care coordination.
Site and Land
We are in the planning phase for site selection, weighing a number of options for securing land on terms that are affordable and sustainable for the long term, including a possible partnership with the local regional hospital that already has land available, which would reduce costs considerably compared with an outright land purchase. A final decision will be made by our Board once the options have been fully assessed.
Governance and Approval
The proposal is progressing through Mildmay's internal approval process, with capital release tied to a series of validation stages including detailed design, costed workforce planning, and confirmed demand, before construction begins.
2026-27
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Feasibility study and site evaluation completed
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Clinical and financial planning underway
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Board approval process for phased development
2027-28
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Continuation of fundraising and site development / construction.
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Phased service expansion, outreach and telemedicine rollout.
Ongoing
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Capacity building, evaluation and partnerships to sustain impact.
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Scoping and development of further sites.
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Ongoing fundraising and grant applications in partnership with Mildmay Uganda.
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Emergency and outpatient care : a 24/7 emergency unit and outpatient consulting rooms
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Diagnostics: laboratory services, digital X-ray and ultrasound
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Maternity and newborn care: labour, delivery and Level II newborn care
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Surgery: major and minor theatre capability
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Specialist and continuity care : clinics for long-term conditions, palliative care and rehabilitation
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Outreach: telemedicine links and community-based follow-up, connecting local teams with specialists in Uganda and the UK
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Estimated Investment: A detailed costing is being finalised as part of our approval process, covering construction, equipment and setup for the centre.
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Timeline: Subject to approval and funding, we expect construction and commissioning to take place over approximately 18 months.
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Local Leadership: Once operational, the facility will be managed by Mildmay Uganda, integrated into national health priorities.
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Government Engagement: We are working in close collaboration with the Uganda Ministry of Health and the British High Commission in Uganda to ensure our centres meet national priorities.
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Medical Equipment: Through our partnership with PhysioNet (UK), we can ensure access to high-quality, refurbished rehabilitation and diagnostic equipment.
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Education Exchange (EdEx): We continue to link UK healthcare professionals with their Ugandan counterparts for placements and professional development.
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The Virtual Doctors: Our telemedicine capability is powered by a mobile app that connects isolated centres with doctors in-country and in the UK.
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Local site partners: We are exploring several routes to securing land for the new centre, including partnerships with local institutions, to ensure long-term, registrable tenure on affordable terms.
We embed routine evaluation, outcomes tracking and shared learning across our programmes, using evidence and partner feedback to continuously strengthen services and inform future scale-up.
The impact we're working towards:
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Expanded access: Shorter travel times and waits for specialist care, with stronger, faster referrals and fewer patients lost to follow‑up.
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Better outcomes: Earlier diagnosis, improved HIV viral suppression and NCD control (e.g., BP/HbA1c), and reduced avoidable emergency admissions.
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Inclusive services: More adolescents, children with disabilities and women receiving dignified, accessible care, tracked with disaggregated data.
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Stronger systems: Skilled, retained teams; reliable supply chains and labs; clear referral pathways; routine use of data for decision‑making.
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Financial protection: Lower out‑of‑pocket costs and transport burdens through outreach and practical support.
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Palliative care: Better pain control, increased home‑based support, and care plans aligned with patient and family preferences.
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Digital and innovation: Telemedicine services that improve access and quality, plus rapid micro‑projects that solve practical gaps.
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Resilience and sustainability: High facility uptime, climate‑aware operations, and services increasingly led and funded locally.
How you can help
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Donate: Fund construction, equipment, outreach and training
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Partner: Collaborate on clinical, digital and community innovations
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Share: Advocate for inclusive, equitable healthcare in Uganda
See also:
Partner-led Small Project Fund
Small, low-cost projects identified by Mildmay Uganda and frontline partners that can be rapidly designed, funded and delivered to address practical gaps in care.
These targeted initiatives allow us to test solutions, respond quickly to emerging needs, and deliver immediate, tangible benefits for patients, such as adherence tools and simple service improvements, while informing wider programme development.
Since 2002, more than 2,000 children and adolescents have received psychosocial services and economic support.
By moving to a Universal Fund model, we ensure that healthcare, education, and food security are delivered equitably to all young people in our care, regardless of individual sponsorship status.