GLOBAL FUND CCM BOARD FLAGS HEALTH SERVICE GAPS IN AMURU
Stakeholders pose for a group photo after the oversight engagement
By Biko Rombe
Gulu city
The Uganda Country Coordinating Mechanism (CCM) Board of the Global Fund has identified gaps in health service delivery, commodity supplies, staffing and access to care in Amuru District, following an oversight meeting with district leaders and health officials.
The meeting, held on September 2, 2026, at Amuru District Headquarters, brought together the CCM Board delegation, district leadership, health workers and implementing partners to review the performance of Global Fund-supported programmes and identify areas requiring further intervention.
The CCM Board lead, Immaculate Owomugisha, said the board’s responsibility is to oversee Global Fund investments, safeguard resources and identify health-system gaps that require support from the fund or other government institutions.
She said the delegation had noted concerns ranging from inconsistent supplies of medicines and prevention commodities to gaps in electronic reporting systems and support for community health structures.
Owomugisha said the board would follow up the concerns with the Ministry of Health and the Technical Support Organization, TASO, while considering which interventions could be accommodated in the next funding cycle expected to begin in January.
The district health team also highlighted poor access to health services in hard-to-reach areas as a major challenge.
Assistant District Health Officer Denis Okello said residents living along the River Nile and other remote parts of the district sometimes travel about 80 kilometres to reach the nearest health facility, contributing to low institutional deliveries and increasing the likelihood of communities seeking services locally.
He said the district currently has a sub-county without a health facility, while another has only lower-level health facilities that are struggling to provide services, including maternity care.
The access challenge was further explained by Dr Polyne Adok Kijange, the district integration HIV and OI focal person, who said Amuru has only one facility capable of providing comprehensive emergency obstetric care.
She said patients from the southern part of the district who require services beyond the capacity of midwives are often referred to Gulu because Atiak Health Centre IV is located far in the northern part of the district.
Dr Adok kijange said the situation affects the district’s institutional delivery figures, noting that hundreds of women referred to Gulu are not captured in Amuru’s delivery statistics.
She called for the upgrading of Otwe Health Centre III to improve access to emergency maternal services in the southern part of the district.
The Chief Administrative Officer, Opio John Bosco, said the district has repeatedly raised the shortage of health facilities with the Ministry of Health.
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