Integrating service delivery in IDP camps: the case of northern Uganda

The mid-north and parts of eastern Uganda are under siege from the LRA and poor health. There are about 1.6 million people displaced by the LRA living in squalid camps. In these camps, the IDPs are cramped in huts built barely a metre away from each other and are solely dependant on food handouts. The staggering burden of disease and poor indicators in the country is contributed to greatly by these conflict areas especially the northern. The severe poverty being experienced in these regions worsens this. General population accessibility to health facilities is not good, being hampered by the general insecurity in the area. Further, because of the rather difficult working environment in the affected districts, the general staffing levels and distribution are poor and insecurity has made the exercise of distributing drugs to lower level units difficult. in order to better the delivery of health services amongst the IDPs, four areas have to be addressed; these are increasing services to the IDPs and encouraging the utilisation of these services; deploying appropriate health workers; education and reiterating the SWAp working arrangement. However the missing link between these interventions and achieving good performance and health indicators in the IDP camps has been verticalism and an uncoordinated delivery of health services by the various stakeholders and partners working amongst the IDPs. This paper advocates for an integrated delivery of health services amongst IDPs in order to achieve the best possible outcomes from priority interventions.