Fact-checking the manifesto of Uganda’s NUP party on health and poverty

The Cover Page of the NUP Manifesto

As Uganda heads to the 2026 elections, the National Unity Platform (NUP) manifesto highlights gaps in health infrastructure and poverty, but not all its numbers add up.

Claims: Three claims about health facilities and poverty in Uganda

Verdict: Two mostly correct, one incorrect

Explainer:

• The claim that 82 districts lack a fully equipped general hospital is rated correct, matching the government’s own admission. However, not all districts require a public general hospital, as these are set up for every 500,000 people, not per district.

• Official data shows an estimated 78% of sub-counties have a functional Health Centre III, with about 22% of the sub-counties lacking one. The NUP manifesto got this wrong.

• The claim that “more than 7.3 million Ugandans live below the absolute poverty line” is mostly correct, broadly consistent with recent poverty estimates from the Uganda Bureau of Statistics and the World Bank.

As Uganda prepares for the general elections scheduled for January 2026, leading political parties have put out their manifestos to woo voters.

The main opposition party, the National Unity Platform (NUP), led by Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu (also known as Bobi Wine), launched its manifesto, titled “A New Uganda Now,” on 11 October, 2025.

The document serves as the party’s primary policy statement, concentrating on key service delivery gaps in healthcare access, infrastructure, and economic welfare. 

We picked three claims for verification.

Claim: “82 districts lack a fully equipped general hospital”

Verdict:  Mostly Correct

“Uganda’s healthcare system is wanting, with 82 districts lacking a fully equipped general hospital,” the manifesto stated.

The manifesto noted a major shortage in critical health infrastructure, citing specific figures for both district hospitals and sub-county-level health centres. Uganda has 146 districts and 2,197 subcounties serving over 46 million people.

The health ministry in Uganda defines a general hospital as a district-level health facility serving around 500,000 people. It provides a wide range of services, including medicine, surgery, paediatrics, obstetrics and gynaecology, family medicine, and radiology, and acts as a referral point for lower-level health units. 

“The service standards for a general hospital is to serve a population of up to 500,000 people, not per district,” said Dr. Daniel Kyabayinze, the Director of Public Health at the ministry.  He put the number of general hospitals at 54.  

“The allocation of hospitals is shaped fundamentally by the size and distribution of the population in each area,” Prof. Freddie Ssengooba, a professor of health economics and health management systems at Makerere University, noted.

“Historically, a district hospital was meant to serve a specific district and could be protected or ring-fenced for that area. Under the new name and model, a hospital can no longer be restricted in that way to one district alone,” Ssengooba added.

We reached out to Dr Herbert Luswata, the president of the Uganda Medical Association (UMA), to clarify what it means to say a general hospital is “fully equipped”. 

“A fully equipped general hospital in Uganda should have: Laboratory services (basic diagnostic tests), basic radiology services (ultrasound, x-ray), maternity/delivery beds, admission/ward beds for patients, a theatre and essential health workers: doctors, clinical officers, nurses, midwives, lab technicians, and radiographers,” said Luswata.

Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja told Parliament in August 2024 that 82 districts in Uganda lacked a public general hospital. 

Data shows that 82 districts lack a general hospital. The claim is mostly correct. 

Claim: “ 78% of sub-counties lack a Health Centre III”

Verdict: Incorrect 

A Health Centre III (HC III) is a sub-county-level health facility that provides preventive, promotive, and curative care. It also offers maternity, laboratory, and inpatient services and supervises smaller health units (Health Centre IIs).

Luswata confirmed that “a Health Centre III typically serves a population of about 20,000 people and it is staffed by clinical officers, nurses, and midwives, currently with medical officers according to the new approved Human resource structure for health.”

According to the health ministry’s 2019 guidelines, each sub-county is expected to have at least one Health Centre III as the minimum standard for primary healthcare delivery.

In April 2025, the health minister reported that out of 2,184 sub-counties and town councils, 1,696 had a functional Health Centre III. This leaves a deficit of approximately 488 sub-counties, or 22%. 

“Currently, 1,696 out of 2,184, translating into 78 per cent, subcounties and town councils have Health Centre IIIs,” the Prime Minister told Parliament on 8 August 2024.

The ministry’s National Health Facility Registry (NHFR)  reports that the government owns 1,464 Health Centre IIIs while the private non-profits own 383, totalling 1,847 out of an estimated 2,184 sub-counties and town councils.

Other news reports indicate that 78% of sub-counties actually have functional HC IIIs. 

The NUP manifesto was wrong. All publicly available data shows that approximately 78% of sub-counties already have a functioning Health Centre III. These facilities are only absent in approximately 22% of sub-counties. We rate this claim as incorrect. 

Claim: “More than 7.3 million Ugandans live below the absolute poverty line”

Verdict: Mostly correct

Absolute poverty refers to a situation where individuals cannot meet the minimum requirements for basic living, food, shelter, and healthcare, often measured using a fixed poverty line of between US$1 and $1.77 spending per person per day. 

The 2023/24 national household survey published in May 2025, showed 7 million Ugandans, equivalent to 16.1% of the population, lived below the national poverty line of US$1 per person per day.  This works out to 7.4 million of the 46 million Ugandans. 

Using the poverty line of US$1.77 daily spending per person per day, the headcount showed 11.5 million poor people in Uganda. 

We reached out to World Bank senior consultant, John Kakungulu Walugembe. He said:

“Although the poverty rate reduced from 20.3% in 2019/20 to 16.1% 2023/24, approximately 7.4 million Ugandans still live below the poverty line, so yes, the manifesto is almost correct”.

The NUP's figure of "more than 7.3 million" is consistent with publicly available data.

We rate this claim as mostly correct.

Antonio Kisembo, a fact-checker and a researcher with the Media Challenge Initiative-Uganda, is an Africa Check Fellow. This fact-check report was produced during the Africa Check Fellowship 2025 in Nairobi, Kenya. The Fellowship is dedicated to safeguarding information integrity and resilience.  The 2025 fellowship was generously sponsored by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, a German foundation advancing democracy and media development.